Usually, when I have to take time off from running, it is due to an injury. I am happy to say that hasn’t happened! However, due to illness, I had to take a week and a half off right at the beginning of marathon training. I am unsure what bug I got infected with, but I was in bed for several days with a sore throat, body aches and pains, and a horrible cough—COVID-negative.
I am feeling much better now, but I still have a nagging cough. I am back to running, though. After taking all that time off, I ran a super easy 5-mile run this past Friday and another easy 6-mile run on Saturday. I have missed two long runs already, but Coach Laura didn’t see the need to back off. In my first week back to full training (week 16), she decreased my first run to 5 miles, but I still did a progression run (7 miles) on Wednesday, and I will do an easy 6-mile run on Friday followed by a 12-mile long run on Saturday. I am not feeling 100% but I am happy to be back to training for the marathon.
Due to the icy roads and trails, I decided to run indoors for that progression run. We have an Olympic-sized indoor track in Anchorage at The Alaska Dome. I have never used it before, but this was a perfect time to try it.
I quickly learned that my Garmin doesn’t register very well inside the Dome. I ran ten laps that my Garmin measured as only 2 miles (s/b 2.5 miles). Plus, according to Garmin, I was running 13-14 minute miles. I am not a fast runner, but I am not that slow either. I turned on Strava (iPhone running app) to see if it would pick up any better. It did! It accurately measured each lap (400 meters) and calculated my pace at 9:40 initially. Since this was a speed workout, I wanted to know my pace so I could actually turn it into a progression run. I plan do all of my speed workouts there.
Running in a circle is not all that exciting, but it was definitely better than running outside on the ice for this type of run. I am glad I have this option because I do not like treadmills and avoid them if possible.
As far as running shoes, I am still searching for a shoe I can use for the long run. Currently, everything I have tends to cause problems around 6-7 miles. Either I can feel the plates in the carbon-plated shoes, which causes foot pain, or the excessive foam in other shoes causes my toes to go numb or causes a burning sensation. Either way, it is very uncomfortable. I recently tried New Balance Fresh Foam X More V4, and I really liked them, except the shoe was a bit narrow. So, I have returned them and am now waiting for the wider version. On a side note, I ran in the Saucony Kinvara Pro (mentioned in the last post – carbon plated) during that 7-mile Dome run and had absolutely no issues, so I was pleased about that. I may try them again on the 6-mile run on Friday. On another positive note, I have literally had minimal to no knee pain during the runs! That’s exciting!
As for family time, I have not seen much of anybody because I have been sick. But we did get together the day after Thanksgiving. We had a great time. Scott, Sonja, and Matt got a version of what I had, but they seemed to recover a little faster than I did. Sorry, I didn’t get any pictures. I have been bad about picture-taking lately, so I will make it a point to take some pictures to share next time.
107 days until The Yuengling Shamrock Marathon
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