Tamy

Ran in the evening.  1:20 

My chronic problem in the left calf caused a lot of pain.  It's worst when I go from standing to running (such as at a traffic light); the first couple of steps are really painful before I get back into an even stride.  It doesn't hurt much when I'm not running.  :(

I had pain the entire run today.  I think the calf is finally getting worse.  I was almost limping but not quite there, so I kept going.  This is the second to last week before the marathon.  I had planned not to cut back on any of my weekday running and just shorten the long run on Saturday thereby only dropping my weekly mileage to around 60, but I may have to shorten the weekday runs to get this calf under control.  Time was the same today despite the pain: 1:33.

Rested the leg yesterday.  It killed me the first 5 miles today and then sort of eased up.  Don't know what to do....

Day 1 of self-imposed rest due to self-diagnosed (with the help of fellow bloggers) muscle strain in calf. Icing it now and several more times today. Will try not to run tomorrow too, but I'm already hating this not running with marathon 9 days away. :(

Day 2 of not running.  Been icing several times a day and taking Ibuprofen.  I am considering trying to run tomorrow.  I feel lonely because I'm without my friend, running.

First run since Wed.  The calf didn't hurt as bad as it did before the days off, but it still felt weird.  So I only did 3 miles.  And my right shin is still hurting.  I notice it more now that the calf pain is lessened.  I noticed when the calf was hurting really bad, it made the shin pain less noticeable. 

Was only going to do 5 miles on this second day back from injury, but I made my loop too big and ended up doing a little over 7 mile.  The calf and shin were a little sore the first couple miles, but the calf is definitely better than last week.  But from mile 3 on, my legs just felt fatigued.  This after resting half of last week.  I don't get that.  The pace for the 7 miles was 11 min./mile.  I haven't run that slow in years.  I hope I'm just off because of the rest and that if I keep running short runs this week, I can get my rhythm back before Sunday. 

Went farther than planned again but got my pace back under 9 min./mile for the last half. 

Felt so-so.  Looking forward to Sunday.

Not a great run for my last pre-marathon run.  Just felt sluggish and slow.  Had planned to run a couple tomorrow, but I think it's better to just rest. 

Oh well, I'll hold my head up because I trained really smartly and consistently and am proud of that.

Didn't BQ or break 4 hours.

I was 7 minutes ahead of BQ pace for much of the first half, which was flat.  In fact, my first half was 1:53, 30 minutes faster than my half marathon PR.  Then the hills started.  By mile 20, I was hurting.  By 22, I knew I wasn't going to make the BQ time.  Pain and cramps in my stomach, calves, lower back, and butt made me start walking a little.  I felt awful and knew I could pretty much walk the rest of the way and still PR, but I wanted to break 4 hours.  So I ran as much as I could tolerate with short walking breaks.  By 24, I was done, but I could still taste the sub-4-hour time.  I used up everything in my tank and crossed the finish line in 4:00:20.  Ugh!  Oh well. 

It occurred to me that this marathon was as hard as my first marathon.  The ones in between were much easier.  Maybe the first time trying to BQ is like the first time ever running a marathon.  Maybe if I tried to BQ again, it'd be a lot easier.  I need to know the answer to that question because I absolutely do not want to make myself suffer again like I did today.  It wouldn't be worth doing that again, but if just having an intense run like that under my belt means I'm that much more experienced next time, it might be worth it....

http://www.j-chipusa.com/results.php?bib=60&eventid=2784&p=

First post-marathon run.  Did it pretty slowly.  Had to stretch the left hamstring a couple times cuz it's still really sore and tight.  Glad to get back out there.  Hope to feel comfortable doing 10 milers by the weekend.

My marathon pains still bothered me even after another 3 days of rest.  But the hamstring felt better.  It was still that mysterious muscle in the front outside of my lower left leg that really hurt during the marathon.  Being a new nuisance, I didn't listen much to it; I simply told it to shut up. 

So tomorrow, I will get back to my regularly-scheduled before-work runs.  I may not do 10 milers yet just to take it easy, but I aim to get back to those in a couple of weeks.  Eyes peeled for another BQ race....

Didn't try to push it too much.  Cold morning; should've had long sleeves.

Felt more like my old self today, despite lingering marathon pains, particularly at the beginning.  Ran the 8 miles at a 9:43 avg. pace and felt high on the second half.  Smiled a little while I ran.  Love that feeling.

My right shin is still acting up.  Top of left foot too, but it's the shin that threatens to hault my running.  Did the 8 miles at around 9:20 avg. pace.

Had a fun run on a new trail.  Started at UCI and took University to the 405.  Ran parallel to the 405 on the Sand Canyon bike trail to Sand Canyon Dr.  followed the trail into Shady Canyon and had to ask people for directions to get back to UCI.  Lots of hills and nice scenery.  1:22 total  and 9:37 avg pace.  Shin still hurts.

http://www.mapmyrun.com/run/united-states/ca/irvine/828125936558959297

I've taken off another 3 days of running to try to rest my shin.  I swam yesterday and today to give myself something to do.  I also bought some orthotics that I'll try running in tomorrow.  Can't wait to be back to running pain free.