week18, 42k

This week I am right on track for distance. Did a few shorter runs during the week, cross training Friday and a 16k on Saturday. I am getting anxious for next weekends run. Two things to talk about, my left leg. Ok, I guess that is only one, but there are two things wrong with it. First, my knee, which stopped me short 3 weeks ago, still feels funny. It hasn't stopped me since, but it never feels normal. I hope nothing comes of that. Second thing, my achilles is getting tight again. This is not such a worry, it seems to happen to me all the time, but this time its pretty stiff and has worked its way a little higher into my calf. There is also a sore spot this time too, not just general, like place I can put my finger on and push that is where it is tender. I guess this week I will just take it as easy as I can. By this point, training isn't going to do anything more for me. I just have to keep loose and well rested for next weekend. Fingers crossed.
Other than that I have been running outside more and more. The weather is getting good. It got above 10C today which is like... well, not that cold. I'm really looking forward to finishing the marathon, taking a week off, then getting back to some aikido, new training, and my trip to Australia and New Zealand (hiking!).

Week 17, 54k

This week’s running was fair. I did three straight days of 10, 10, and 12k with the usual mix of hills, fartlek, and easy running. Friday night moseyed along and I was planning for my Saturday morning long run when Aya told me that we had to get up to help her brother move at 9am. I knew that I would not be able to get in a morning run because to run/stretch/shower would take near to 3 hours and there was no way I was going to be able to wake up by 6am. It was around 10pm when she told me and I'd had a few beers. So Saturday I helped her brother move, was tired all day and didn’t get to eat lunch till 2pm by which time I was really hungry and I ended up stuffing my face with pizza. Fast forward 2 hours and the sun is soon to set. I am now home and quickly putting on my running gear so I can get in at least half my run before it gets dark. So I do 10k while it’s still light out, but it’s awful. Every 5 minutes I am pushing down pizza bile, freezing my butt off and tired. At 10k I say screw it and take a few steps toward home before I say screw that and run again, but only for another couple and then give up. I was just too tired. So Sunday, normally a short run day, I ended up doing the rest of my long run. I ended the week with enough distance to be happy, but a bit peeved my long run did not go well.

At the end of Sunday’s run that familiar tenderness in my knee returned. Again, I think it has to do with the road as I never get it on the treadmill. I guess I will just keeping plugging away at the road, weather is getting better for it, and hope that things work out. However, I think there is a distinct possibility that I will be 25 or so k into the marathon and have to give up because of a sore knee. That would really suck.

Week 16, 65k

Yeah week 16! 65k is the most I have ever done in a week and the reason for that is I took the longest run I have done yet, 30k. No injuries this week, nothing special to report as far as gear. This week I lightly came back to full throttle after hurting my knee a bit last weekend out on the road. I am pretty sure it was the roads fault that I got hurt so I will be making more attempts at road running. I did 7k on the road this week and hope to get out for another 20 or so in the coming week. I can't expect to run the full marathon if my knee is getting tender at 20k.
Just a bit to note about the 30k, I think I am going to have to revise my estimated finish time. I got to 25k ok, right on schedule at about 2hrs 20min, but after that I started to get slow. Right below my butt my tendons where starting to get tight and give me trouble. Getting to 30 was hard and I did it right about at 3hrs, but that means that the 5k from 25-30 lasted almost 40 minutes. Thats no good. If I took that time I would be finishing the race at 4hrs and 30minutes or so. I think this is a realistic expectation. I wouldn't say I hit the wall, my legs were killing me and I wanted to stop running, but I wouldn't say that I was out of energy. I Just couldn't shake that pain in my legs. I guess in the next few weeks I will take special care to stretch out my hamstrings a few times a day, hopefully loosen that up.

Week 15, 49k

This week’s running; a few things to talk about. I only did 49k this week and you are saying what? Only 49? and yes, you are correct that I was aiming for more. Let me give you the break down. During the week, as usual, I had some good medium runs at the gym. All of them around 12k. No problems there. New shoes are still good, old shoes back in rotation. Friday I had a birthday party, but still managed to get to the gym for an hour of lifting before hand. Saturday, once I had shaken off the previous night’s beer, was good. I was out ON THE ROAD by 12. Yes, the snow has slacked off enough that my paths are open. Joy.
So Saturday, which was my actual birthday, I went out for what I hoped to be a 20k run in the balmy 3 celcius weather with overcast skies and rain spitting on me. Despite the perfect weather I was feeling great. Do you have any idea what it feels like, after 6 weeks of treadmill running, to be liberated to the outdoors? It was awesome, happy birthday to me. Plus I had my REI OXT jacket which kept me mostly dry and mostly warm. Got a nice reminder of how hot I get running in winter gear and how cold I get if I stop even for a couple minutes. Thanks winter.
Unfortunately around 15k my left knee started to feel a bit of pain, so I stopped to walk for a bit, felt better and kept going… for about 2 minutes then had to walk again. I repeated this a couple times, each time thinking; ok, just working out a kink. Not so.
I ended up walking the last couple of kilometers and even that began to be a bit painful on the knee. So the rest of the day Saturday I spent keeping my leg up and keeping ice on and off (watched The Book of Eli). I'm pretty sure it has to do with switching from a soft surface treadmill to a hard surface road. In the next couple of weeks I will be forced to make my runs outside so I am fit enough to do the marathon on the road. Blessed be the road. Sunday and Monday felt ok, but I wasn’t taking any risks. I only counted 15k of that run because the last 5 were more like a run/walk/hobble. Here I am Tuesday, ran 5k today and feel ok. But hey, that’s this week. Not week 15.

Week 14, 58k

This week, super. Super because I made it through without an unusual amount of pain and hit my goal. Super because these new shoes are working out pretty darn well. Super because I figured out that the shoes I bought this fall, which I thought were wasted, are not. Super because I feel an injury starting, but I know how to treat it, I think, and that makes me feel in control and optomistic. In a way, it was super because just 7 days ago I thought I might be facing the end of the line. My feet in constant pain, barely able to make my miles for the week, I thought it might be time to throw in the towel. That is something that I love and hate about running, the highs and the lows. This week high, last week low.
This week I did the 20k Monday, which doesn't really count for this weeks total, but last weeks. Then I did 7 Tuesday, took wed off, Thursday 12, Friday 7, Saturday 25, and Sunday 7. What does that give the week? 58, if you weren't already adding that together. Its a few kilometers short of what i was hoping, 60, but what is 2k? Screw it. I had a good week.
I continue to mainly run on the Asic Gel 16's, but I put the NB 993's back in the rotation. Unfortunately the Saucony Shadows are dead. I tried running on them Sunday, but they clearly were out anything good they ever had to give me. Thanks for the kilometers Saucony Shadows. Sayonara. The other two pairs of shoes are a bit heavy as far as running shoes go, but they all make me happy which is what I am aiming for. If I get a little extra money and happen to be near a good shoe store, I will pick up a pair of lighter shoes, something geared towards running 10k and not really long runs.
Today Aya and I were talking about how my running is going, we went to a sold out movie so had a long drive home to talk. I think after this marathon I will scale back for a bit. Two reasons for that. First, I am getting a bit bored having to run. I guess, that is part of training, but when you face 3 hours of running that you don't particularly take enjoyment from it starts to grind on you. Second thing is that in about 6 months we will be packing up our life to move somewhere else and I don't want to be in the middle of a great program just to lose it to 2 weeks of inactivity. I think, the next step, is aim for about 30 or 40k a week and focusing on making my 5 and 10k stronger. Quality, not quantity. Maybe, just maybe, I will do another marathon next spring, but I think this summer I will focus on taking my 5k and 10k beyond my best times.

Week 13 (54k,kind of)

This week has some things to talk about. Yes, I reached 54k which is what I was aiming for (7,10,7,10,20)and I am happy about that, but it didn't come about exactly like I expected it to and I thought, right up to the end,that it wasn't going to happen.
Those aches I felt in my feet became way more intense. By Tuesday last week I was feeling dull aching all the time, both feet, like in my sleep aches. It got me to thinking, both feet? For real!? Which got me to thinking, both feet? hm, problem solved, I need new shoes. While in Tokyo I went to the Asics store, which was way over staffed and really really busy, but also hit the nail on the head for me. There I took a little test where they popped some sensors on my foot then stuck one foot at a time into a box and scanned them as I stood. They took readings of how my feet are shaped and how I was standing. Presto, information. So I pronate, and my left foot is a bit flat, and both my feet are narrow! I knew about the pronation, but wow, I feel like I huge jerk for spending all this time running and not taking the time to do this very simple, and free, test. So I broke the bank and got some new shoes that they recommended, hoping hoping hoping that these would help the pain in my feet and maybe be nice shoes to boot. I just got 6 more weeks, I can make it! (right?)
Long story short, they are awesome. I got the Asics Gel Kayano 16's which is funny because I was just reading about them this past week. I can say they are good because I have already put 27k on them (its wed night) and my feet have no pain at all and haven't from the moment I slipped those on.
Second story, I didn't exactly get 54 within the confines of the week, I did my long run Monday instead of Sunday because Sunday I was too hung over to get up in time to run around the palace which is awful, I know, but let me explain. I went to Tokyo to meet up with my friend Yoshitsugu, whom I met on the farm in Shizuoka, the farmer's son. We promised to meet up in Tokyo. We did, and I met a few of his friends and pretty early on I decided it would be better to have a good night with all of them then run the next day. You have to understand, for a foreign person living in the country like I do, finding a good Japanese guy friend is like finding a coelacanth swimming in your bath tub. So I didn't run Sunday, but I put 20 in Monday on the new shoes, then 7 the next day, and today I biked and lifted weights to give my walking sticks a break. Tomorrow 12, then 7 Friday, 25 on Saturday, 7 Sunday, I hope. Feeling good, I hope it lasts.

Week 12 (45k)

This weeks running was good. Coming out of the shadow of an injury is never a pleasant time and although I got 45k in this week I am not feeling very happy about my running right now. Its been... oh, maybe 3 weeks since I have had a chance to run outside. Being hurt and then with all the snow we have had here, there is not good chance to get out. Sometimes the sidewalks are clear enough at noon that I would consider running on them, but then by night when I can go out they are frozen over or it has snowed again. This weekend I am going to Tokyo to meet up with a friend so I am hoping to get in some outside running there around the empirial palace, maybe do my weekend's long run there and make it worth it.
Otherwise my foot feels fine. Both feet have some dull aching that I havent really had before, but I dont think much of it, just normal ache I think. Race day is about 6 weeks away. I plan to do 55 next week, then 65 the week after. The next two weeks after that I am revising my running plan to a few short runs during the week and a monster run on the weekends reaching a peak mile week. I think 3 and 4 weeks from now I hope to hit 70 and 75k with a 30 and 35k long run at least, maybe I will go to 40. I would like to, but things havent been going as planned so maybe I shouldnt go that far until I have to. i would rather make there slow than not make it at all.