T minus 20 hours...

Thats right, they start things early in Huntington I guess. So it will be a Sunrise start at 6:50 tomorrow morning for the Surf City Marathon. I have the typical race nerves and anxiety (actually kinda atypical for me) but we shall see. I am feeling pretty good (I think). Its kinda strange, I have never really gotten used to this whole taper business and it is playing havoc on my mind. But, again, we shall see.

We have assembled a little crew of 5 and set a challenge. Whoever doesn't beat their respective goal has to rock a speedo only in a sprint tri this season a-la Faris Al-Sultan. For the sake of all the spectators at the sprint, I will do my best to prevent them from having to suffer through such an atrocious site. So its sub 2:55 or eternal embarrassment. Should be motivation enough, don't ya think?

A little piece of advice...

Unless you are looking to insult a guy, or launch him into some serious introspection as to his attire, or the "vibe" he gives off, don't tell him he "Looks pretty."

I know very few straight guys who would take that as a compliment.

T minus 6 Days

So after a couple of days of swapping out runs for swims and trainer time, and a couple of sessions with the PT, the legs, and particularly the calf, are feeling much better. I think last week, especially Monday night, were caused by some delayed onset fatigue and soreness. I seriously have never felt that way before and don't want to again. My runs last Wed, Thurs, and Sat were pretty much pain free. While my legs felt tired and sluggish on Sat, it was still much better. So knock on wood, seems like the calf strain may not be a problem for my Marathon this Sunday.

As far as the marathon goes, had you asked me 2 weeks ago how my training was coming along, I would have told you I was really happy with it and felt good about my chances of going sub 2:55. Now... not so much. I am not quite sure what it is. Just one of those things that you can't quite put your finger on, but you know you are not feeling 100%. Something just seems off. I had a relatively easy training weekend (Sat = 9mi run; 2,500 swim; Sun = 45mi bike) and still felt exhausted last night. I can't really describe it, its like I'm tired, sore & physically fatigued, without doing the workload it usually takes to get me there. Ohh well... not much I can do about it now huh? I just hope that in the next 6 days this crap will go away!! I trained for it and I want sub 2:55 in a BAD way.

But I make NO EXCUSES!!! Run and see. What I run is what I run and I will not make any excuses. What I run on Sunday will be the fastest I can run on the training I did. I don't break 2:55, I didn't train right to get there.

What a difference...

A day & an excellent Physical Therapist makes. After taking yesterday off the run, and a 45 min visit to the PT (Sean Ryan at http://www.sportsmedpt.com/ the BEST) the legs felt MUCH better tonight. Even after a full track workout with the club, I felt great. Granted I was taking it a little easy, but still, 100X better than Monday night.

Feeling that much better seriously brightened my day. I had succumb to major feeling of apprehension and was in a serious funk worrying that the legs were shot, and so to were my hopes for the marathon. But (HUGE knock on wood) that doesn't appear to be "in the cards". Maybe my goal time (Sub 2:55) isn't either, but tonight quelled some of my fears and boosted my confidence that I will be toeing the line come Feb. 1st.

However, after 4 Club Ed members went out to Rock N' Roll Phoenix last weekend and all broke 3hrs (including our coach, Ed, who at 57 ran 2:58 and won his age group), the pressure is on. I can't be the one to break the streak!

10mi planned for manana... fingers crossed.

Just what I needed...

So its 13 days and counting till the Surf City Marathon I have been training for. The last week or so my calf had been bothering me a little bit on some of my runs. During and after my last long run this past Saturday, it felt fine though, so I thought I had it kicked. Last night however, it came back with a vengeance. I tried to go do our normal Monday night tempo run with the running club, and even though I planned to go slow, I just couldn't hang. My left Soleus was throbbing and had swelled up half way through the run (just the slow part). At the turn around I noticed my skin felt super tight in my calf and my shoe felt way snug. Great!! Just what I needed. So after ice, the Stick, and more ice, I took the morning run off the schedule and replaced it with 5,000 in the agua. I was going to run tonight, but I think a spin session might be the better call. This sucks.

New to this

Well, I've been feeling like an aquarium visitor for too long and after some urging, I have decided to jump in the blog tank with the rest of you.

Will my blog be informative? Not likely. Will it contain anything important? Almost certainly not. Will it be a good way for you to waste a few minutes of the work day every now and then? You be the judge. Will it be entertaining? I'll do my best.

So here goes...