Me and Dom at the finish in front of our state's capital.

Week 5 treated me very well which could be from a combination of things including yoga, chiropractic visits and plenty of rest. Maybe too much rest – my mileage is still considerably low but I am blaming that on the early setting sun (think safety first).  I will continue to add a few extra miles to my recovery days and try to wake up earlier to pull off longer runs during the week.  Good luck to me.  The pain I was experiencing previously is almost completely gone and this week there isn’t a pain to complain about. Let’s see how long that lasts.  

The real highlight of my week was Sunday, the California International Marathon Relay.  I had been anticipating this race for quite some time looking forward to meeting my partner Maryam G. whom I met on Dailymile last year.  We both made commitments to run this race together but both experienced major injuries that kept us guessing if we would ever actually make it to the starting line.  Fortunately, we were good to go on race day and removed any and all pressures to perform well, we just wanted to finish healthy.

Happy Holidays! Me and Maryam G. before heading out the door.

My portion of the relay included Legs 1 and 2 totaling 13.5 miles.  It was really nice showing up to the race with only about 1 minute before the gun went off and not stressing about it at all.  My plan was to run quickly but not to the point of exhaustion.  As the gun went off I found myself between the 3:10 and 3:15 pace groups.  Since I didn’t care so much about running the race competitively, I didn’t care that I was completely boxed in and around mile 3, I felt pretty warm and decided to park myself in front of the 3:10 pace group and stay ahead the rest of the way.  It was during the first two miles of the race that I realized we had perfect race conditions – cool temperatures unlike last year where the temperature was 22 degrees at the start with headwinds almost the entire way.  Unfortunately my calves felt like they were on fire, very, very tight but I managed to finish without any problems.  Immediately after my run, I jumped into my car and headed to mile 26 so I could cheer on my teammates other running friends as they headed into the finish. This was my favorite part of the day, to see the expressions of joy, happiness, exhaustion and fatigue on the faces of the runners as they gave their all to finish the race.  I’ll admit I can be very tough physically but as soon as I take note in other’s emotion, it’s almost like it rolls off of them and into me.  Almost immediately I experienced bouts of joy and tears, so much so that I missed my team and other friends as they passed by. I only managed to see one pass by, noting he had reached his goal of running under 3:15 – way to go Cameron!

Running a relay during the actual marathon race did have me feeling a little uneasy. I almost felt guilty since I was only running a little more than half while they would run the entire distance of the marathon.  At times I felt bad when runners who were noticeably running the full (they didn’t have to wear a Lindsay Lohan type of apparatus around their ankle) pulled up next to me to run by my side.  I worried they may pace with me, not realizing I was only running a portion and become discouraged knowing that.  I was happy to finally reach the exchange point, I was mentally warped from all the hills I encountered during my legs – I hadn’t really noticed them last year when I ran the full. Seriously, I am either weak and need more hills or they were tough. Still can’t decide but I would say I am weak and need hill training so the next time I run there, I can call them small speed bumps.

Anyway, here is what happened this week:

WEEK 5 OF 20
Total Mileage:  26.54
Cross Training: Yoga
Therapy:  Chiropractic

Monday – Recovery Run (4 mi)

Tuesday – Track (6 mi total including warm-up and cool-down), chiropractor
                  The workout: 1 x 2,000m, 1 x 1,600m, 1 x 1,200m
                   2,000m – 8:01 (6:24 pace)
                   1,600m – 6:11
                   1,200m – 4:17 (5:42 pace)
                       

Wednesday – Recovery Run (3.14 mi), chiropractor

Thursday – Yoga

Friday – Rest day (0 mi)

Saturday – Travelling (0 mi)

Sunday – Long Run (13.46 mi)
                 California International Marathon Relay – 2010
                 1:35:49 (7:07 avg)
                Garmin Stats: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/59008892

Post-run beverage. Bud - disgusting! *spits on floor*

Weeks 3 and 4 were like day and night – I ended Week 3 a little concerned about a pain I was feeling in my butt/hip area (to be discussed in a later blog) while I ended Week 4 feeling very strong, confident and recharged for another tough week ahead.

As I have discussed previously, I am following one of Hal Higdon’s marathon training program which is an 18-week program. Technically this is the end of my fourth week of training but only the end of my second week of Hal’s training schedule. I needed a few weeks of light running before I got deep into training just coming back from an injury.  I can really feel a difference with my strength and speed so early in my training compared to the final weeks of training right before I fractured my foot – I am much stronger and faster.  Definitely don’t have my endurance back, 14 miles being my longest run so far.  I would definitely say the running break (down time) really gave my body enough rest and ample time to recover.  The funny thing is that even though I know this, I still fight myself on my recovery days. It doesn’t make any sense for me to know that they are important yet I feel guilty running so slowly. 

Anyway, here is what happened this week:

WEEK 4 OF 20
Total Mileage:  34:26
Cross Training: None (no time!)
Garmin Statistics:  click here

Monday – Recovery Run (3.14 mi)
Tuesday – Track (5.01 mi total including warm-up and cool-down).
                   The workout: 1 x 4,800m
                     19:34 (6:36, 6:38, 6:21)
Wednesday – No time to run! (0 mi)
Thursday – Tempo (6.2 mi)
                     Long Beach Turkey Trot
                     42:25 (6:50, 7:06, 7:10, 6:52, 6:51, 6:51 :43)
Friday – Rest day (0 mi)
Saturday – Pace Run (6 mi)
                      42:58 (7:09 avg)
Sunday – Long Run (14 mi)
                    1:51:09 (7:56 avg)

As I mentioned, it was a really good week, hard but good. No real issues with butt/hip this week. Next week I hope to add 2-3 more miles to my weekly total.