Saturday, March 29, 2014

Half Marathon Training: Good/Bad/Ugly

Good:

  • Having a Training Plan: I put together a schedule to get me to a spring half marathon back in December and have working through it since Jan
  • Picking a Target Race: I was eyeing three different races at the beginning of this endeavor and I managed to choose the target race and get registered about month ago.
  • Galloway Running: Generally speaking, the Galloway method has been working really well for me.
  • Long Run Success:  I successfully completed both an 8 & 9.5 mile runs without issue
  • Beach Running:  I ran twice on the beach during vacation.  Yay!
Bad:
  • Schedule Nightmare: Having some trouble getting my mid-week runs completed consistently.  Juggling my home/work/school commitments isn't leaving me a very good window for mid-week running right now.
Ugly:
  • Return of Knee Pain: Knee pain re-surfaced at mile 6.5 of my long run this weekend.  Had to walk the remaining 2.5 miles back to my car.  Was actually supposed to run farther than the 9.0 miles that this adds up to, so I didn't even get the full mileage in. 
The knee pain return was a surprise.  It hadn't bothered me at all up to that point, and it was a big problem during the long run and for the rest of the day. Still a bit sore now. It might be related to not getting in the mid-week runs consistently and still trying for the long run. Or it might be that my knee simply isn't going hold up for a half marathon.  I am going to rest it the rest of this weekend, and then try some short runs next week to see where I'm at with this. Needless to say, it's discouraging...

10 comments:

  1. I'm sorry to hear about the returning knee pain :( That would be hard after all your efforts building mileage back up. However, the recent long runs are amazing and it sounds like you are taking the sensible approach of rest to address the pain now. I hope it improves.

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    1. I hope it improves too. I'm not a happy camper about this :-(

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  2. Oh no! I hope getting some shorter runs in during the week helps. Good luck!

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  3. That's so disappointing for you. I hope the rest and the shorter runs help.

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  4. Oh no, I'm so sorry. I hope with enough rest this can be fixed. Sending you fast healing thoughts!!

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  5. I can understand why you are not happy with that knee. I really hope you can get over this and complete the half training and race. All the best!

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  6. I can understand why you are not happy with that knee. I really hope you can get over this and complete the half training and race. All the best!

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  7. Oh no! Hopefully the knee pain returning is just a fluke and it will stay away once the mid-week runs are consistent. Stupid freaking knees!

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  8. The two things that have helped me avoid the knee pain that plagued me in the past has been liberal use of a foam roller on my quads and plenty of Omega 3. I'm not saying it works for everyone, but it has been very effective for me. I hope you find our solution, but don't ever give up.

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