Sixteen Easy

Monday, July 20, 2015

All walking except for three little runs in the last quarter mile.  No pains at all.  Zero whining, and the last 4-mile loop was almost as fast as any of the other three.  This is a good thing.  Maybe my problems with the right hamstring are behind me (*wink), though I'm close enough to the next marathon now that I'll just keep walking, with very little running, to avoid an injury.  

Maybe 18 miles next week?  Maybe shorter than 18 but longer during the week?  Then 20 the week after.  That should do it.

Splits: 29:52, 29:39, 29:02, 29:12, 29:33, 29:15, 30:03, 29:30, total 3:56:05, for 16.04 miles, pace 14:43.  I'd like to get to sub-14, but I'll take what I can get.

Never Again

Will I do a long run on DEX day!  I took my 40 mg of dexamethasone last night, as part of the new weekly myeloma treatment regimen.  DEX makes a person feel peppy all day the next day, as if seriously over-caffeinated.  That feeling is misleading, though, because DEX actually interferes with the transfer of glucose into muscles, so my legs felt weak and tired after the first mile. 

Result: I can usually walk faster than 15 minutes per mile, but today the pace was 16:01, even though I tried to go as fast as usual and it felt like I was.  True - there were some distractions; I stopped three times to chat briefly or pet a sweet dog, and was on the phone (possibly walking slower) for 15 minutes, but those don't account for the 14-minute difference.  I walked all but the last 60 meters, which I ran just to see if I could.  A little stiff, and yup I could, but I'm glad I didn't run any more than that because the right thigh was feeling it.

Whining:

• Back:  No problem with the usual place on the right side, but I did feel a little pain on the left side, a little higher up.  It's a familiar pain from long runs and marathons, though, so I'm not concerned about it. 
• Thigh:  The right thigh that usually gives trouble lately didn't bother much.  At about mile 7.5 I felt a sharp pain toward the inside, perhaps in an adductor muscle or ligament, but that went away.  Yay!

Based on today's walk I believe that I can run the next marathon at a 15- or 16-minute pace and finish it within the time limit.  I'd prefer to do a 14-minute pace, with a little running, but I'll make that judgment on race morning.

Saturday, July 11:

Another 4-Mile Walk   With the St Croix Valley Runners.  Out two miles on the Zephyr Trail, then back.  It's a very pleasant walk on an old railbed, now nicely blacktopped, with a lovely bridge over the only busy road that the trail crosses.  It's the kind of trail that a person could do every morning without getting tired of it.  Four miles in 56:30, pace 14:08, all walking, no running.  

My back didn't hurt during the walk, though it did hurt a little afterward.  The right thigh bothered a little, but not too much and it didn't get worse.

Easy Day

Just joking.  At 7:00 am four miles of walking in 56 minutes, then two hours of lawn mowing and another hour prepping a wall for painting, and in the afternoon 12 miles on the bike in 60 minutes.  

• Walking: I can't run right now.  The original hamstring injury may be mostly healed now, but another has appeared in the same right thigh over the next few days, more toward the adductors.  This feels familiar - a pain that I have experienced in marathons if not in training.  It's not a stopper, but for now it's best to try to heal it.  I tried running once today and decided not to run any more.  14-minute miles is not bad, though.
• Mowing and wall prep: Oh I wish we could sell our sweet house on the lake.  We're comfortably ensconced in our new townhouse now - I'd love to be done with the ongoing work and expense of our previous home of 36 years.  The mower is a walk-behind btw.
• Bike: Riding is continuous work, mostly on paved trails with a steady grade, rarely downhill steeply enough to coast for a bit.  Very good for the leg muscles - entirely apart from running, the dexamethasone that I take tends to disassemble the leg muscles, especially the quads, and biking will help to reduce that damage.

My back hurt a little after all that work.

I slept well Saturday night.

Last Wednesday & Thursday: Two more 4-mile walk/runs, running not more than 20 seconds of each 5 minutes, and on both days I did feel the new pain in the right thigh.  Sigh.