NYC Marathon Training Update XIV

Man. Are we already in week 14 of training for this damn marathon?

This past week was quite a struggle, because of a couple of setbacks. Most of these setbacks were experienced during the reattempt of my weekly long run. 

1.I have been dealing with a nagging pain in my inner, left calf muscle. I did not notice this pain during my speed and short training runs during the week, but it hit me during my “long” run. 

2.My lower back has been “acting” up a little bit. It has not been an “Ouch, I cannot move” type of pain, but more of a “Bitch, you may want to skip this run before things get worse” nagging pain.

2.5.I think that I may have to get surgery on my pinky toe, or rather a bone that is in between the pinky and ring toe. 

I was quite disappointed in myself this week because I wanted to hit 20 miles for my long run. 😦 Saturday, I was not feeling the long run at all. It was my fault because I did not leave the apartment until around 11:00 am so I was pretty much checked out before I even began the run. I took the bus to my starting point at 59th Street and 1st Avenue (I was going to incorporate some hill/bridge work in the long run); told myself screw it; and rode a Citi Bike home. Actually, I enjoyed a fish fillet from McDonalds before riding the bike home. At least, I did a 4-mile bike ride. 

The next day, I went to Central Park to try the 20-mile run again. Things were going well until I got to the third mile. That’s when my calf started to act up. Since it was not a stabbing pain, I was like maybe I can push through the pain a little more. The pain did go away (or maybe I mentally blocked it), but my lower back started to feel weird around mile 6. At that point, I figured that it will be better just to end the run. The slight pain in my calf and lower back aside, I just was not feeling the run. Those setbacks were quite annoying because Sunday’s weather was perfect (for me) for a long run. 

Obviously, this was an extreme kick in the face to my ego. Here, I am 40 days away from my marathon and I could barely complete 7 miles. 

Going forward, I’m a little concerned because I had a couple of failed long runs, and we are about 40 days away from the big day. I still have some time because my 20-mile run is scheduled for this weekend. I bumped up the 20-mile run because I want to attend my beer club’s Oktoberfest celebration on Saturday. Today, I plan to do an easy run just to check in with my body, but maybe I should take a week off. Honestly, I think some of my back pain can be attributed to sleeping on sleeping on the sofa for a couple of nights. Maybe I should spend today doing my back stretches and do the easy, check-in run tomorrow. According to my training calendar, this week is relatively easy – Monday (5 miles, easy), Tuesday (5 miles, pace), Wednesday (Rest), Thursday (3 miles, intervals), Friday (Rest), and Saturday (20 miles)

Yeah, this was more or less a rambling post rather than a training update. 

Let me see what y’all folks are talking about.