Last Plan before the Sunburst

The plan for Sunburst goes something like this (it's a very light week!):

Mon 5/29 - Memorial Day. I plan on resting and eating lots of meat as part of carb starving routine.
Tue 5/30 - Run 3
Wed 5/31 - Run 4
Thu 6/1 - Run 2
Fri 6/2 - Rest. Leave for South Bend after court appearance. (Long story.)
Sat 6/3 - THE RACE. Sunburst Marthon, South Bend Indiana. Woooooooooooo!
Sun 6/4 - Deep sleep and lots of ice all over.

7 days to go!

I have been gradually reducing miles in preparation for my marathon which is exactly one week away!
The start time was changed from 8 am to 6 am due to construction, but luckily I booked a hotel room and have the Friday off. This way I can pick up my race packet and partake of the pasta dinner, something I missed out on at the Indy Mini. Now I have to focus on staying injury free, and reflect on why I am running in the first place.

This is Keegan Grant. He is in 2nd grade at Walden Elementary and has Leukemia. After 2 years of treatments Keegan’s leukemia has relapsed, and a bone marrow transplant may be necessary to save him. There is a blood and bone marrow drive I’ll be attending on Sunday, June 4th at the Jewett Park Community Center in Deerfield. If you’d like to help, please call LifeSource at 847 803 7943 to schedule an appointment. Your help is appreciated!

Slacking..

This week's schedule was fairly light:
Rest, run 4, run 8, run 4, rest, run 8, cross.
Results:
Mon 5/22 - Rested
Tue 5/23 - Ran 4 in 31:40
Wed 5/24 - Skipped this run (too busy at work)
Thu 5/25 - Ran 4 in 31:41
Fri 5/26 - Rested
Sat 5/27 - Ran 8 miles in sweltering heat. Not a lot of fun. Today after the run starts my low carb pre-race diet.
Sun 5/28 - Rest some more.

Now, I've been told that some pros don't run at all the week before the marathon, with the belief that conditioning is not going to go away in a single week. So I'm not sure if I'm just going to sit on the couch next week or do some tiny runs (2,3,4 miles). We'll have to see how my injuries are doing. My IT band problems seem to have gone away, my hip flexor problem seems to be gone, everything seems to have shifted into my left calf muscle (like some kind of injury Rubik's cube). Now I just need to keep that area limber and I should be fine. I've been doing exercises for my shin splints, and those appear to be fine as well. For the marathon, I'll have to work hard on starting very slow (10 min per mile) and accelerating throughout the race, keeping an eye on my HR and drinking at every water stop (and not stopping).

Terrible tendons

This week's plan:
rest, run 5, run 8, run 5, rest, run 12, cross

My left calf is still messed up from the 19 mile run of 3 weeks ago. This didn't bother me so much in the mini marathon, but it has been getting worse every week.

Mon 5/15 - Rested as planned.
Tue 5/16 - Ran 4.8 miles
Wed 5/17 - No run, too busy at work.
Thu 5/18 - Ditto
Fri 5/19 - Ditto. Maybe the 3 days rest rest will help me heal up some of my injuries.
Sat 5/20 - Ran 11.7 miles in 1:45:37, or just over 9 minutes per mile. But pain for first 7 miles or so was pretty bad. Stretched and walked for about 10 blocks once I got home. Also soaked in tub of ice water from waist down. Considering I forgot to take my Alleve before the run, I didn't do too badly. I noted the requirement for Preferred II section of Chicago Marathon, so that's what I'll be shooting for in South Bend -----> 3:55:59.
Sun 5/21 - Rest (no cross training)

Refocusing on the Big One

Back to the humdrum world of training...this week's Higdon plan is:
rest, 5m, 10m, 5m, rest, 20m, cross. This is a 40-mile week.
Results:
Mon 5/8 - Rest. Got that covered. Pain from race, but no worse after than before.
Tue 5/9 - Ran 5 miles
Wed 5/10 - Ran 7.8 miles
Thu 5/11 - Ran 5 miles.
Fri 5/12 - Rest!
Sat 5/13 - Ran 20 miles in 3:23:37. Pretty slow, more than 10 minutes per mile. But it took a good 5 or 6 miles to warm up properly due to sore left calf and shin splints on right leg. Can't seem to shake these injuries.
Sun 5/14 - Rest, of course.

The Indy Mini is Here!

Schedule for week of 5/1:
Rest, 5m, 9m, 5m, rest, 14m, cross.

Results:

Mon 5/1 - rested. No problem here. Stiffness and pain continues from long run on Saturday.
Tue 5/2 - Ran 5 miles, per plan. Painful at first, but got better.
Wed 5/3 - Ran 10k, could not do the full 9 miles. Ended with 6.5 miles on odo. I was in lots of pain and was very slow - about 9:00 per mile or worse. My body just said "STOP!" and Casey (fitness girl who was running next to me) said I should rest next couple of days.
Thu 5/4 - Planned 5m run, but rested instead.
Fri 5/5 - Rest planned. And so I did.
Sat 5/6 - THE RACE! Ran the 1/2 marathon in Indianapolis. Got to the start line barely in time, so was tired, hungry, had gas pains, etc. Still did ok.

Results: Miles 1 and 2 in 10:00
Miles 3-6 in 8:40 Total for first 5 miles: 45:00
Miles 7-10 in 9:00 Total for first 10 miles: 89:39
Miles 11-13.1 in 8:07 Last 5K: 25:13. Total for 1/2 marathon: 1:54:53

My goal was 1:57 so I beat this by 2 minutes. And no one wagered that I would finish in more than 9:00/mile -- too bad. My mile pace for the 1/2 was 8:46.

I am now going to focus on my next race, a FULL MARATHON on 6/3.
Sun 5/7 - REST!!!!!!!!