Hip pain cancels workout

I skipped my run today because I've been bothered for a few days with some pain in my left hip area. Pretty sure this is related to playing tennis with my sons on Sunday evening. We had fun hitting the ball around, but I'm not used to the sprint-pivot-reach type of movements compared to running. The pain is right in the ball 'n socket joint area...probably some inflammation. I've felt this pain (rarely) before but not since a long time.

I'm hopeful that this will be resolved in another day or two so that my scheduled 20 miler (Sunday) will be a go. This is actually the Broad Street Run 10 mile race, but I'm going to park at the finish, run up to the start, and then race back down again. My plan is 8:45 pace first 10, and then 8:00 pace for the second 10. This will be much much slower than last year, but it's all about the longer goal now.

Ten Miles - Hot Trails

My legs are pretty sore from yesterday's 10 miles on the trails in B.C.S.P. Very hot temps for this time of year. I'm thinking that will help get me ready for any race day weather up in Vermont. I carried some water & CarbBoom, plus stopped back at the car when ran dry. The woods themself were rather uneventful. No wildlife of note. Heard the friendly calls of Blue Jays & Piliated Woodpeckers, but never actually saw any. The Bluebirds weren't in the small meadow - and I was looking for them. The park service needs to add some nesting boxes at this location to attract these colorful little guys. No snakes, turtles, frogs. Plenty of fishermen in the small stream by the road - this was stocked a few weeks back. Wonder if any trout still swim there now? Doubtful. On first sight of the Brandywine I remembered the last visit here (has it been 6 wks?) when the river was frozen almost entirely with just the center channel still moving. Then it was frigid and distant. Now it looks refreshingly cool & inviting. A few men in waders in out in the current...but trout aren't stocked here so the fishing poles per water area ratio is dramatically different than the small stream.

This was the last trail run prior to the marathon. I almost bought the farm on the fast downhill section along Rocky's Run. It's fun counting down the last this, the last that. It's exactly 4 weeks to marathon day! One more 20 miler, a few weeks of taper. One very long day of car drives & seeing old friends. And then BAM - waking up at 5:30 in strange hotel room (it better be nice)...finding the best parking lot (no time to scout around the night before)...picking up my race packet on marathon morning (7 a.m. cut off with race starting at 8:05). I can sense that it's going to be a hectic & stressful 24 hours leading up to the gun. I'll just have to rest as best I can. Hydrate, carbo load, etc.

Yes, I've been totally out of blog postings for about 3 weeks. I'm committed to some catch up and definitely staying current from here on out!

March '09 review

If you had asked me mid-month how was the marathon training going in March, chances are you'd have gotten a negative response. As late as the 25th I was making plans to abandon the spring marathon, find a fall target instead, and try to do something different with the remainder of the spring season. But it all turned around by the end of the month. Now I have finally found confidence that I can & will finish a marathon this spring season.

March 2009:
I had set the bar pretty damn high for March's goals: 100 miles total, with a long run of 15 and 16. Lose 5 pounds of fat. Make decision to register for VCM or postpone to the fall.

Total miles: 88 (that's 4 & half weeks)Avg. = 19.5 per week. 3rd month of weekly avg. increase and 88 is my highest month in several years.
Races: Haddonfield 5k - reasonably sucessful. Caesar Roday 1/2 marathon - very painful, difficult effort. Discovered that my fitness level isn't where I thought it might be. The time was within my goal range, but I just plain went out too fast and suffered mightily during the last few miles.
Long runs= 1x 15 miles & 1x 24 miles. 24 is my longest run ever by far. Convinced me that i can do a marathon with correct pacing.
Highlites: a couple of trail runs; a couple of USATF races; and that 24 miler will stick in my mind as one of my best runs ever of all time. Injuries are gone although i still feel nagging pains once in a while. Note: I didn't lose any weight, might have gained one pound.

April goals: I need to do 2 more 20 milers to be 100% ready for the marathon. Be smart about recovery, racing, diet. Must lose at least a few pounds. 100 miles total goal.

Junk Miles

I really don't subscribe to the concept of just running miles for their own sake. I've always favored intensity over total mileage. But today's workout felt like "fluff". Just some miles to write down on the training log to say "I ran something today." Legs still achy from long run. Toes still sore, gonna lose that one toenail for sure.

This is really more of a running journal entry than a blog posting: 5 miles easy on the treadmill at 8:30 pace. Nothing much happening. Buddy Chris at the Y may run the Lewes 1/2 - I want to do that race too, but it really doesn't fit into the marathon game plan.

Must drop about 5 pounds before the race. Got to get serious about diet.