I don't know what to do, I really don't. The shin splints were so bad today I had to abandon my run after a mile and a half. This is the exact same problem I had last week, but I didn't even get to the three mile point! Of course, maybe I can tackle this tomorrow or Tuesday and still get the long run done.
And that's a question, too. 11 miles or 21? 21 is on the schedule, but, shit, I'm really not sure I can do that, not with these shin splints. The 16 last week went OK after about the fifth mile, but can I bank on that happening again? 11 would be a good break; tackle the 21 next week.
43 days 'til the Houston marathon.... It has crossed my mind that due to pain, I may have to go for the half-marathon instead. Again. If that happens, this will be the third marathon in a row that I've committed to and then not done because of training problems.
Being honest with myself, I can say that the one thing they all have in common is a poor base. After Houston, no matter what, I'm going to cut way the fuck back on long runs and start at the very, very basic 3 miles 4x week. That's it. First and foremost, I must work on consistency. Secondarily, I will work on being able to do these runs pain-free. Then I will work on speed. (I know I can run long distances at a 9:30 pace if the training is right.) Once I get to a place where I have a good base of 12-15 miles/wk, I'll start increasing slowly, such that I'll be ready for the late-summer half-marathons and ultimately get to NY Marathon starting line ready to do it.
NYFlyGirl has proven it can be done. She opted out of her first chance at the marathon due to injury and then over the next year had a very steady, rigorously scheduled routine. It built slowly but surely and as a result she had what I consider to be a model of training and a model first marathon. Beast and Derek have a natural ability I'll never have, but NYFlyGirl is a lot closer to me in "natural" ability and her training was just spot-on. I've got to do it like that.
In the meantime, what do I do to get back on the training schedule and be able to run Houston at least halfway decently?
4 comments:
i'm not experienced with marathon distance but it sounds to me that you need to take care of those shins and ease off a little, 43 days is still a good amount of time to ease off, then back into, i hear shin splint pain can stick around awhile though...it may end up being that you run the marathon with shin splint pain but maybe it won't be so bad you cannot finish if you take care of it now...there may be some tips and exercises you can do to relieve shin splint pain? Hopefully someone more experienced will come along and help you, i'm sorry you are frustrated.
Cris, You might ask Dave Mc Govern for some advise ( rayzwocker@aol.com) He's usually pretty good with that sort of thing.
BTW --Sorry I haven't had time to catch up with all your posts, but I will soon.
I think it's a great idea to have a solid base. "Building a Base" is literally jason favorite phase when he's talking about training for marathons. When we first started dating I would be all, "LET'S GO RUN IT'S SOOOOO MUCH FUN". (I had been running since high school and he never did before he met me) He would look at me like I was crazy and opt to stay home. About 2 years later I said, "Ok, let's start all over" We made a two mile loop in Bloomington around our apartment and ran it 3-4 times a week for almost 2 months. It's such a short amount of distance but we were really strong runners after that and adding in another mile or 2 became really easy because, as jason loves to say, "we built a really good base" :-) Good luck getting your shins in order. I have had severe shin pains in the past and all that I have found to help was stretching and icing them down with frozen dixie cups after every run.
Everybody, thanks for the suggeestions and encouragement. I definitely have my plan of action for the future and I hope to make it to NY next year pain-free and running strong.
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