This week was a tough one due to the expected fatigue experienced after completing the 20 mile run on Sunday. I did feel better Sunday than I thought I would. But then Monday was not the best... nor Tuesday.
Decided to take Monday off to let myself rest. That was a smart plan, but then I decided to do the three short runs Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Tuesday was just a 4 miler and it ended up being a tough one because some soreness remained. But things felt good enough to complete it. Same with Wednesday which was longer, a 6 mile run. Noticed some weird feeling in the arch of my left foot but I also changed shoes due to trying a new brand/style since all my shoes have so many miles on them. I learned my lesson and Thursday went back to my standard brand/style (Saucony Triumph ISO, the original not the version 2) which made that feel better. Never do this, thinking changing shoes this late in the game is a good idea. Just don't do it. It's never a good idea. Just for reference I went with Saucony Triumph ISO 2 but the men's size equivalent. Sometimes I can get away with wearing men's shoes but this time it didn't work out. Time to give these to a friend...
Decided that it was worth it to order 1 more pair of my usual shoes and that way I could use them for the 14 miler Saturday and the runs next week to somewhat "break them in" for the marathon. They don't really need broken in, most likely, but it will make me feel better to have at least 20-30 miles on them. That way I know that they've been tested a little bit and seem good to go. They are the brand/style I've been running in so I'm thinking they won't need too much getting used to. My main hope is that they will be a little more "springy" than the 3 pairs I already have in that style that have each 300ish miles on them.
Here's a tangent... my foot has always been rather picky. Once I get used to something, it's hard to get a different shoe. I start to notice little creeping up pains and have to go back to what I'm used to. My first running shoes were Mizuno Wave Rider... then switched to Brooks Ghost... then to Adidas Supernova (I think?) briefly because I liked the boost foam... can't remember the style. Then Saucony Ride... decided maybe I need more support. Around summer 2015, I discovered Saucony Triumph ISO. I have continued to buy pairs of these for over a year now, but they are endangered! They keep trying to improve it and are now on version 3. I haven't tried version 3. But the original is the best. I also am trying to get used to something else so I have Mizuno Wave Creation 17 and Brooks Glycerin 13 that I really want to like after the marathon... Mizuno's are actually pretty good but feel a little bit harder in the heel. The Brooks feel more soft and I'm not sure about them yet. ok end of tangent.
Thursday's run in my "standard" shoes, I averaged 9:59 mm on my 6 miler. Looks like a little bit of speed has come back since Sunday's 20 miler.
Tuesday and Wednesday's runs were both close to 11 mm. But that's ok. I expected that.
Saturday was a 14 mile run and I have to admit I wasn't really feeling it. I wanted to just cut it short because I was pretty tired from this week. Others doing slightly different training plans went down to 12 or 13 miles. Decided if I needed to do that, I would.
New pair of shoes were here, so used those and was able to stick with the plan. Got to the running store early and did 5 miles, then did 9 with them for a total of 14. At the beginning of the run I was solo and then once I got to the running store I was solo again for a little bit (with people around me, just all doing slightly different paces).
Then part of the group broke off and I had the opportunity to run about a 10:45-11 pace with someone who was about 20 years older than me and a very experienced runner. She had run several marathons, a few at Boston which she did the whole BQ process twice. She told me she was just naturally fast and it worked out that she ran a 4 hour(ish) first marathon. Definitely got some good advice and the rest of my run went quickly. Almost didn't notice it was 14 miles.
Felt ok for most of the run but noticed some odd knee pain on the downhills so tried to walk those when needed. The rest of the day I was imagining phantom pains and things that would cause me to not be able to run. I know this is a part of taper, this fear of unknown injuries developing so I tried to let it go and see if things returned to normal.
Felt better Sunday so with any luck things will continue to stay feeling ok.
Next week is a much easier week... 5/4/4/8... 21 miles.
Overall, it was a good week. The recovery from the long 20 miler was as expected. I'm hoping this will give me some idea of how I'll feel after the marathon. But I'm sure I can't even imagine it yet.
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