View my NYC Marathon Training Calendar here
2002 October 27
Entering the final two weeks before the race, my focus changed to preserving myself. I was still coughing a little, although not enough to affect my running. More serious was the return of some neuroma pain in my left foot. This is the same condition that surfaced while I was training for my first marathon in 1998. When it happened then, I took a six week break from running, instead focusing on preserving my aerobic base by doing pool workouts and long stints on the exercise bike. Between rest and cortisone, I managed to make it through my training back then. The difference is that I had three months of training after I'd recovered. I'm entering my taper, and that's not enough time to adequately rest my foot, and allow full recovery.
I'm just not willing to back out now. We've got the plane tickets. My mother is joining us for the trip. We're booked for two nights at the Algonquin. We're going to visit family and friends. Most significantly, I've done most of the training. There's just too much to pass up. It's just time to back off a bit, and to be very careful.
My foot was really bad last Thursday - so bad that I backed out of a run with Landy at the last minute. Instead, I went to the gym that night and did 50 minutes on the recumbent bike. It felt good to push myself a bit, and to work some different muscles. On the other hand, I really need to get some sport-specific training in now too.
Following two days of rest, I headed out to Bridle Trails State Park for a ten-miler with some mile repeats mixed in. It was gray and drizzly, but I had some hope that the trails in the park wouldn't be too soupy yet. This is one of my favorites for a run close to work. The trails are mostly wide, and reasonably well kept. The park is completely sheltered from sun or rain too. It's possible to get lost in there (I've done this a couple of times). Once I got so turned around that I was surprised to come out on the west side of the park.
I set out from a nearby parking lot, on Saturday the 19th, two weeks and one day before the marathon. My left foot was alternating between numb and pained. My plan was to do ten miles overall, with five mile repeats in there someplace. I had thought I would do the mile repeats at anaerobic threshold. For me that's about 160 beats per minute (my age-normalized figure is around 156 or so, but I round up a little).
I jogged easily for about 20 minutes. I'd had a full pot of tea earlier, so my heart rate was running a bit higher than normal for this part of the workout, around 145-150. Between 20 and minutes minutes I did three quick accelerations, each about one minute and each bringing my heart rate close to 170. The weather was perfect, a bit damp, but no rain falling. The temperature was around 50 or so, and the woods smelled nice and fresh. The clouds and wet streets scared most of the equestrians off, so I didn't have to stop very often to let horses by.
At 30 minutes out, I began my first fast mile. My heart rate quickly jumped to 165, and then 170. I decided, based on my level of exertion, I was probably doing close to a 7 minute mile. So after seven minutes, I jogged easily for two minutes. I wasn't sure I could complete five repeats at this level, so I decided to slow things down a bit for the subsequent repeats. Somehow, it didn't work this way though. I found myself hovering over 170 for each one, even after gearing back a bit. This was probably a combination of the caffeine, a lingering cold, and raw energy. I zigzagged around the park, completing the five repeats, with the next to last taking my heart rate above 180. This left me with about 15 minutes to cooldown, followed by a nice five minute walk back to my car. Afterwards I gobbled recovery drink, a Power Bar, and some Advil. I resolved to take things easy the next week too. I felt good after really pushing myself, even if I didn't always feel good while pushing myself.
The following week, I ran 50 minutes Monday night, 30 minutes on Tuesday, and crosstrained on Wednesday. After resting Thursday, I fit a quick 30 minute workout in on Friday night at the gym, using the recumbent bike. Without meaning to, I probably took a bit too much out of myself in advance of Saturday's workout. I definitely felt it the next day too.
After dropping the kids off with Kris on Saturday, I wasted some time before heading out on my last long run before the race. It probably took a mile before my foot stopped hurting a lot. Oddly, my knee hurt for a few minutes too. I suspect this was due to working new muscles on the bike the previous night. I set out from Redmond Town Center, and headed up the Sammamish River Trail. I thought I'd do a stretch of the Puget Power Trail to wind the training calendar up. This was where I'd started, back at the end of June. Perhaps I should have picked a trail in which I had more upbeat memories.
I took it easy out beyond the two mile mark (I'd started around the equivalent of the 2/3 mile mark). I was running around an 8:30 pace. I began the first mile repeat just as I turned off of the river trail. It was really challenging heading up the first hill. Things didn't get easier until I was winding down the first mile. For this set of repeats, I was figuring on around an eight minute per mile pace. Although my heart rate was easily as high as the previous week, there was no way my speed was as high. The second mile repeat took my over the second hill and then down to Avondale. A quick recovery jog left me with lots of hill to climb during the third repeat. I was beginning to really feel the fatigue in my quads. For me this is a bad sign, as my quads are fairly strong, and don't tire easily. I recovered on a short level stint before beginning the fourth and final repeat going uphill, leveling out, and then all the way down to the river trail again.
Were this the beginning of my training, I wouldn't have been unhappy or concerned. I think I really wanted to feel better about things on the final long day before NYC though. This left me feeling uncertain. I resolved to rest in the upcoming week, including catching plenty of sleep.