Pain in the Middle

Rick and I have ventured into week 10 (just past the mid-way point) of our marathon training and are running into unchartered territory.  So far, our longest run has been about 18 miles 2 weeks ago, and last week it went down to 12.  This was an interesting couple of weeks. 

Both of us had a fantastic 18 miler. Rick ran by himself so that he could keep his goal pace  (which he did) and I ran with Chuk and Adam: half on the new Greenway, and half on the Yellow trail.  It was a nice slow run (about 9:30-10:00 pace) and I felt pretty strong the whole way. The last mile is when my knees started hurting, but I was amazed it didn't happen sooner.  If it wasn't for that, I know I could have gone longer.

The 12 miler the following week seemed harder, strangely.  It was a little warmer, I ran by myself, and it was a hillier route through Germantown.  I didn't have any pain, though. In the next day or so, my hips really started bothering me...mainly after running and throughout the day.

My weekend pace runs have been good, especially when someone is there pacing me.  Last week I ran half of it with the team and the other half with Rick and Raul.  Having Rick pace me is a little hard because he always goes a bit faster than my goal, but I'm glad for it afterward.  On marathon day, I am going to try to stay with the 9:15 pace group that Jennie Vee is leading.

Gradually, my hip pain got worse, so I made the decision to take 3 days off this week in the hopes that I can do my long runs this weekend.  So here I sit with ice packs stuffed in my sweats and a bottle of Alieve.  I did dust off my road bike yesterday and got out for a fantastic 32 mile ride.  It was a beautiful day and I forgot that I actually enjoy the bike.  I did't try to kill it, but averaged about 16.9-17 which I was pretty happy with at this point.  It is much better than where I was last year at this time, so that is encouraging!  I actually felt excited thinking about tri season. I may go for a swim today, or maybe another ride.  It sure is nice not to be so structured during the off season.

Next week's plan...

Sat: 19 miles
Sun: 9 mile pace
Mon: Cross
Tue: 5 mile recovery
Wed:10 miles
Thurs:5 miles or cross
Fri: off
Sat:20 miles
Sun:10 miles