Damn it feels good to be a gangsta.
Since I've never been concerned with mile accumulation, I can't be certain this past week was the first time I've ever logged thirty miles over seven days. I'm pretty sure it is, though. I mean, thirty miles?! That's pretty far. Also, I don't know why I would choose to run that many miles without a particular goal in mind. Let's just say, for simplicity's sake, this was my first thirty mile week. Deal?
Trust me, I am painfully aware a marathon is only four miles shorter than this thirty mile accomplishment. I get that, come April, I will run twenty-six miles in one day instead of in one week. But that's still over five months away. For now, I have thirty miles in one week and you know what? I couldn't be more psyched about it.
This past week has taught me a few things:
1. A foam roller is an ailing knee's best friend. I've developed a serious love/ hate relationship with my foam roller. Even though my friend told me a few weeks ago I needed to buy one, I refused. I can be cheap sometimes, and I thought the $20 price tag for a foam roller was too steep. So while I kept my $20, I suffered through an entire month of knee pain. (Looking back, I think I spent the twenty bucks on Advil anyhow. I'm an idiot.) I finally caved and bought the foam roller at Target. I read about half an article about how to use it to rehabilitate an inflamed IT band and then got rolling- literally. The first time I tried using it, I rolled the length of my good leg; the one with the non-injured knee. I wanted to know how a healthy leg should feel when you are massaging your IT band with a foam roller. While I wouldn't say it was an entirely enjoyable feeling, it fell somewhere in the hurt-so-good range. The other leg, though? Yeah, that was an entirely different story. I started with the foam roller at my ankles and then moved it up the outside of my leg. Everything was fine until I got to about three inches above my right knee. That's when I screamed a bunch of R-rated phrases I'm not going to type here because I know my mom reads this. (Hi, Mom!) Thank goodness my roommate wasn't home, because, if he was? He would probably think I have a serious case of Tourette's or something. That was one of the single most painful experiences of my life. I'm not exaggerating, either. That sucked. It did, however, help my knee. I woke up the next day feeling a little less sore. I (painfully) kept foam rolling and, not surprisingly, felt stronger and stronger each day. I ran 14.3 miles on Sunday, foam rolled after it, and had no knee pain afterwards. Boo yah! (Side note: Thanks, Parth, for the tip. Next time, I will listen to your suggestions. Well, that's probably not true. But I promise to not blow them off entirely. Either way, I owe you a beer.)
2. I CAN RUN 14 MILES! Maybe you didn't notice that in the big paragraph above. I know-- it's kind of hidden among all those other words. It's not your fault. Either way, let me repeat: I ran 14.3 miles on Sunday. I finally feel like I am training for a marathon! I knew going into this training that running half marathons was something I could achieve, mostly because I'd done it before. While I'd still like to knock some time off my half marathon PR, running a half is essentially checked off my athletic bucket list. I assumed one of the biggest hurdles in prepping for a marathon would be comfortably running more than thirteen miles. I was totally right about that. I was at a very annoying thirteen-mile plateau before my run on Saturday. I was cognizant that I needed to run farther than that, but I just hadn't-- and thought I couldn't, really. Fortunately, I can be kind of a dumbass on occasion. Believe it or not, that actually helped me this past weekend. I went on a Castle Island loop run Saturday afternoon. I knew that I wanted to run somewhere between seven and thirteen miles, depending on how my knee was feeling. At the ten mile mark, I had no pain and a lot of energy, so I decided to add a lap around UMass Boston to my run. I checked my phone running app quickly and then kept running. My plan was to run around UMass until the app told me I had run twelve miles. Then, at that point, I would head home. But, here's the problem: the app never told me I hit twelve miles. (Ok, what I really mean is that I never restarted the app. Again, I can be a total dumbass.) When I finally realized my error, I angrily restarted my app and ran back home. By the time I reached my front door, the app chirped through my headphones that I had finally reached twelve miles. Thanks. I consulted Google maps to see how far I had gone between stopping my app and starting it up again, and that distance was 2.3 miles. You can do the math. I ran 14.3 miles. Like a boss. An accidental boss, but whatever.
3. Running is all head games. I feel pretty damn good right about now. I reached two major milestones this past week... and had a few quality, pain-free runs, too. With all apologies to LL Cool J, don't call it a comeback. (I mean, you can call my accomplishments a comeback if you'd like. I won't complain.) I think, more than anything, this week has taught me that training for a marathon is about fifty percent physical and fifty percent mental. I recently questioned my ability to complete the training and the Marathon, partially because of what was happening with my knee. Now, after only one good week, I am totally confident I can do this and do it well. Does this make me a head case? Probably. Either way, I need to make sure I am following a training plan that will make me feel strong, accomplished and kind of like I do right now: ready to go... and a little bit like a rap song.
Distance Tuesday (11/12): 3.82 miles (with Sole Train youth running group)
Time Tuesday: 47 minutes (12'18" splits)
Distance Thursday (11/14): 3.05 miles (with Sole Train youth running group)
Time Thursday: 40 minutes (13'07" splits)
Distance Saturday (11/16): 14.3 miles PR distance!!
Time Saturday: 2 hours, 8 minutes PR time!! (9' splits)
Cumulative Distance Since Blog Started: 56.19 miles
Cumulative Time Since Blog Started: 9 hours, 8 minutes
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