So close, but yet so far...

When someone takes a week to post after their 20-miler, it's a good sign that something is wrong.

In my case, I have a strained/torn right calf muscle. I've been cycling through the stages of grief (cuss a little, cry a little, rinse, repeat...) but basically keep coming back to the concrete question: what can I do now to make sure that I finish in a good way on April 20th?

Current strategy:

1. Baby the leg! RICE (rest, ice, compression, elevation) is tricky with a 3-year old and a house on three different levels, but I've been going down the stairs on my butt, to the delight of aforementioned 3 y.o.
2. Do stuff to feel like I'm still involved in my training/recovery. I'm doing a little swimming & pool running on my regular run days. Also seeking out every alternative therapy I can throw at one tiny body-part. Today, I lucked into a medicinal qi gong session with a friend at my shul. Trying to get in for sports massage & kinesiotaping, but apparently there are a lot of other runner in the same boat!
3. Think positively. I keep having to correct myself when I say/think "I'm training for Boston." Instead, "I'm going to run Boston next week."
   
4. Plan realistically. While I know I could "gut it out, " I have to be able to function as a spouse, mother, and designer after the marathon. If I don't have a race-day plan in place to rein myself in, competition and hard-headedness will get the best of me! So, I've dropped all time goals in favor of finishing safely.
5. When in doubt, fall back on all that theological training! Today at services, the leader pointed out that a lot of the psalms of praise aren't about giving thanks for good things. They're about the bad times, when we have faith that we'll have somthing for which to give thanks eventually. So, I'm having faith, and I'm also asking y'all to do whatever you do in the prayer/send-good-energy-into-the-universe department.

Worst case scenario: I know that I can walk 26.2 miles if I have to without laming myself. If I don't die from boredom, I will cross the finish line eventually.

The church at the finish line puts Isaiah 40:31 on a big banner on marathon day.
You may recognize the text from Chariots of Fire. Here's the full context (JPS trans.):

²⁷ Why do you say, O Jacob, Why declare, O Israel,
"My way is hid from [HaShem], My cause is ignored by my G-d"?
²⁸ Do you not know? Have you not heard?
[HaShem] is G-d from of old, Creator of the earth from end to end,
He never grows faint or weary, His wisdom cannot be fathomed.
²⁹ He gives strength to the weary, Fresh vigor to the spent.
³⁰ Youths may grow faint and weary, And young men stumble and fall;
³¹ But they who trust in [HaShem] shall renew their strength
As eagles grow new plumes:
They shall run and not grow weary, They shall march and not grow faint.

Yay, Cindy!

Today, I started my 18-miler at 7:30. At 10:30, I had finished a 15-mile romp through the hills of Arlington & Winchester, and met my family, friend Cindy, and her trainer, Judith at the starting line of the Ras na hEireann in Davis Square. Today was Cindy's first 5-K, and Jesse & I promised that if she registered, we'd run with her, even if we had to "poke her with sharp sticks all the way" (her words). It has been an honor training with her and seeing her progress from running a few seconds at a time to completing a 5-K. She is a true runner, who when her doctor said, "You know, you'd get the same benefit from walking," asked, "Why would I want to do that?!" And, where most of us finish our first race at a new distance thinking, "I don't know if I ever want to do that again..." (and then blessed amnesia kicks in and we do), she called Jesse this afternoon for a list of summer 5-K's to train for. My hero.

Yoni came with us in the running stroller, ringing a cowbell and giving us pep talks in a pirate voice all the way. (If you haven't read How I Became a Pirate, you're never too old to catch up!) He hopped out to run the last 1/10th of a mile, and was very "dis'pointed" that they had run out of medals when he came through the shoot.

Slowing Down

I'm having some enforced rest, because my whole family has various stages of a yucky cold. Luckily, this is taper week before Sunday's Hyannis Half Marathon, so as long as I'm nominally healthy by then, it's ok to skip today's run.

Actually slowed down my last 2 runs considerably after reading Jeff Galloway's Marathon. The guy shouldn't quit coaching in favor of a literary career, but he has some sensible ideas about running as process v. product. He is probably the strongest proponent of the idea that every run has a purpose, and if you're pushing harder than necessary to achieve your goal, you're actually hurting yourself. If the goal of a long run is to build distance and stamina, that can be accomplished as well (or better) by going slow, even taking walk breaks. And while I will continue to do my speedwork at a higher pace than he recommends, the walk breaks prevent me from feeling trashed after my runs. (Note to parents: it's really not cool to come home after a long run and let your 3-year old play house by tucking you into his bed and bringing you stuffed animals!)

On longer distance races (marathons), Galloway claims that the energy saved by slowing it down and taking walk breaks early on will allow you to stay on pace and even pick up pace in the race's final miles. When I did the Martha's Vineyard 20-Miler, I went out too fast, felt great knocking out 8 min miles, and told myself I was "banking" minutes for later on. In the end, I had to slow down below my goal pace, felt awful for the last 2 miles and post-race, and still only barely made my time goal. So, I'm gonna try training myself to be more conservative this time, and hopefully learn something about not being such a "Type-A Runner" in the process!

Good-Day Goals & Bad-Day Goals

Had a marathon training mtg tonight w/ Team MBHP, and was impressed that Sean put his marathon time goal out there for G-d and everybody to see on his fundraising page. Goals can be scary.

After I ran my first half-marathon, I realized I could be faster, but that I didn't push myself and was scared. Of what? Setting goals and missing the mark? Meeting my goals, finding out that I'm capable of something more, and having to set a new goal? Finding out that I'm strong enough? Finding out how many people hold me up and love me anyway when I'm not strong enough? Eventually deciding to run a marathon?

So, here I find myself training for my first marathon. And I do have a goal, on which all of my training is based: I want to finish sub-4, which means a 9 min/mile pace. 26.2 of 'em.

That said, I've learned that for running, it's good to have a good-day goal, and a bad-day goal. Bad days happen -- last night's dinner was too spicy, or after I'm warmed up, my foot still twinges where it was broken. If I don't cut myself some slack for that, I'll go back to being afraid to set goals.

For instance, my shoulder has been hurting a lot for a few days, so yesterday my good-day goal was to do 3 x 1 mile at 8 min. pace. My bad-day goal was 2 at 8 min pace, and then break the last mile into halves if need be. When I got to that last half-mile, I thought "You have another .25 in you." And when I got to the last .25, I thought, "This is just like the turn onto Hereford right before mile 26. Run, girl." I had a good day.

My bad-day goal for April 20th is to finish. Because really, running 26.2 miles is pretty hard, whether you finish in 2:04, 3:57, or 6:30.