This has been a hard week. I had a pain in my knee in the middle of the week, and I have been feeling generally tired throughout the week. Perhaps it didn't help that I went out and came home after midnight twice (but it was for the Beastie Boys concerts so I have no regrets).
However, today's long run went very well. I had planned for 18 miles, but actually I managed 20 miles. I also started at a brisk pace, and the best part was that I was able to maintain that pace for two and a half hours. It was good for my confidence, especially now that there is less than a month to go before the Big Day.
Today: 20 miles
This week: 63 miles
Saturday, 8 September 2007
Friday, 7 September 2007
Pain-free again
I am very happy to report that my knee pain did not get any worse yesterday. Naturally I was anxious when I started running, but thank God the pain did not return to my right knee. I was not taking any chances, however, so I cut the distance to 6 miles. As today was Friday, I had not planned any hard work anyway. I went for an easy 8-mile run, again without any pain.
I am just hoping tomorrow's long run will go well. I will be glad if I can run for 18 miles, which normally takes me 2 and a half hours to complete.
Yesterday: 6 miles
today: 8 miles
This week: 43 miles
I am just hoping tomorrow's long run will go well. I will be glad if I can run for 18 miles, which normally takes me 2 and a half hours to complete.
Yesterday: 6 miles
today: 8 miles
This week: 43 miles
Wednesday, 5 September 2007
Knee pain
When I finished the interval run yesterday, I had a pain in my right knee. I thought (hoped) it was just fatigue from the hard training. By evening it was gone, so my theory seemed right. Unfortunately, however, the exact same pain came back half an hour into running today.
Now I have a difficult choice to make. Naturally I don't want to aggravate it - there is only one month left before the Loch Ness Marathon. So ideally I should rest until this pain will be gone, but I don't know how long I will need to wait and this is very unnerving for runners.
What should I do? For the moment I pray the pain will be gone by tomorrow.
Today: 8 miles
This week: 29 miles
Now I have a difficult choice to make. Naturally I don't want to aggravate it - there is only one month left before the Loch Ness Marathon. So ideally I should rest until this pain will be gone, but I don't know how long I will need to wait and this is very unnerving for runners.
What should I do? For the moment I pray the pain will be gone by tomorrow.
Today: 8 miles
This week: 29 miles
People are strange
I just came back from the Beastie Boys concert, and it is late so this will be a short post. Beastie Boys rock! I cannot help but feel a thrill when I hear the guitar riff at the beginning of Sabotage, even if I knew it was coming.
I did the interval run this morning. So I was on the field track in the Victoria Park, and you would think I was the only person that was crazy enough to do an interval training at 7 in the morning? Wrong! There were three other people who turned up, and that's only for half an hour I was there. It seems like many people are fond of running the shit out of themselves early in the morning!
Today: 13 miles
This week: 21 miles
I did the interval run this morning. So I was on the field track in the Victoria Park, and you would think I was the only person that was crazy enough to do an interval training at 7 in the morning? Wrong! There were three other people who turned up, and that's only for half an hour I was there. It seems like many people are fond of running the shit out of themselves early in the morning!
Today: 13 miles
This week: 21 miles
Monday, 3 September 2007
Week 4
When I got up this morning I immediately felt a strain on my legs. I guess I haven't fully recovered from the marathon-pace run on Saturday, so I decided to have an easy run. I intend to reduce the weekly mileage this week, before hitting the peak (hopefully) next week.
I have read more story about Tosa. She got injured one month before yesterday's race, while she was during the altitude training in China. Two weeks before the race, she was still suffering from pain and she called her husband (who was in Japan) and cried and told him she might have to retire. I can definitely identify with this sentiment from my own experience with injury. Of course she was under the pressure thousand times bigger than mine, but as a runner the worst feeling you get is when you are unable to run when you want to. I also saw that her fellow marathon runner was asked about Tosa, and she replied "she is very influential because she really tries hard." I like the "really try hard" bit, because as a professional runner I am sure she tries very very hard herself, but (or precisely because she does it herself) she can appreciate the extraordinary effort level by Tosa.
Finally my thanks to a rubbish collector I encountered this morning. I saw he was about to come out to the street so I stopped (he was working, so he should have a priority) but then he stopped and signalled me to go. I was out of breath so I could only raise my hand as a sign of recognition, but if he is reading this blog (no chance!) I would formally like to say thank you. Please don't think we runners do not show appreciation to your kindness. We are always so grateful when somebody make way for us. It is especially helpful, as it happened to me this morning, towards the end of training.
Today: 8 miles
This week: 8 miles
I have read more story about Tosa. She got injured one month before yesterday's race, while she was during the altitude training in China. Two weeks before the race, she was still suffering from pain and she called her husband (who was in Japan) and cried and told him she might have to retire. I can definitely identify with this sentiment from my own experience with injury. Of course she was under the pressure thousand times bigger than mine, but as a runner the worst feeling you get is when you are unable to run when you want to. I also saw that her fellow marathon runner was asked about Tosa, and she replied "she is very influential because she really tries hard." I like the "really try hard" bit, because as a professional runner I am sure she tries very very hard herself, but (or precisely because she does it herself) she can appreciate the extraordinary effort level by Tosa.
Finally my thanks to a rubbish collector I encountered this morning. I saw he was about to come out to the street so I stopped (he was working, so he should have a priority) but then he stopped and signalled me to go. I was out of breath so I could only raise my hand as a sign of recognition, but if he is reading this blog (no chance!) I would formally like to say thank you. Please don't think we runners do not show appreciation to your kindness. We are always so grateful when somebody make way for us. It is especially helpful, as it happened to me this morning, towards the end of training.
Today: 8 miles
This week: 8 miles
Sunday, 2 September 2007
Tosa wins bronze!
Reiko Tosa won the bronze medal in women's marathon in the World Athletic Championship in Osaka. She ran the Boston Marathon last year (also came on third) so technically I ran with her. It was Japan's first individual medal on the last day, so very well done to Tosa-san! She started to trail behind at the 38-km, and fell to the 5th but picked up the pace again to take over two runners. I know it's almost impossible to regain strength at that point of the race, so this really was a human-super effort and she deserves the highest praise. Also, the Boston Red Sox pitcher Clay Buchholz whom I praised highly on my post from 17 August, had a no-hitter against the Orioles in his second start! So it was a very good weekend all around.
Back to my own training, which was of course much less dramatic. However I managed to complete a marathon-pace run for 15 miles on Saturday morning. In the previous weekend I could not go beyond 7 miles, so I was very relieved. The weather was more cooperative this time; it was overcast and the temperature was lower by 5 degrees. My pace per miles was as follows:
1 7:20:88
2 7:07:11
3 6:58:20
4 6:55:98
5 6:55:08
6 6:55:61
7 6:50:84
8 6:50:09
9 6:50:99
10 6:48:57
11 6:52:83
12 6:53:78
13 6:50:75
14 6:51:02
15 6:30:67
As you can see, once I warmed up I could maintain the pace between 6 minutes 50 and 55 seconds, which I was happy with. I think the marathon-pace run is important more mentally than physically; I would have been very anxious going into the race if I had had another bad run yesterday. Ideally I wish I could run at 6 minutes 45 to 50 second-pace, but that's probably too greedy...
Yesterday: 15 miles
This week: 75 miles
Back to my own training, which was of course much less dramatic. However I managed to complete a marathon-pace run for 15 miles on Saturday morning. In the previous weekend I could not go beyond 7 miles, so I was very relieved. The weather was more cooperative this time; it was overcast and the temperature was lower by 5 degrees. My pace per miles was as follows:
1 7:20:88
2 7:07:11
3 6:58:20
4 6:55:98
5 6:55:08
6 6:55:61
7 6:50:84
8 6:50:09
9 6:50:99
10 6:48:57
11 6:52:83
12 6:53:78
13 6:50:75
14 6:51:02
15 6:30:67
As you can see, once I warmed up I could maintain the pace between 6 minutes 50 and 55 seconds, which I was happy with. I think the marathon-pace run is important more mentally than physically; I would have been very anxious going into the race if I had had another bad run yesterday. Ideally I wish I could run at 6 minutes 45 to 50 second-pace, but that's probably too greedy...
Yesterday: 15 miles
This week: 75 miles
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