Close Call!

Rounding out week 11, after the track workout that I wrote about last week, were a couple more hard workouts, which left my legs completely zapped by the end of the week. On Thurs I had my tempo run again, which I had to do on the treadmill due to the weeks snow. 12-miles on a treadmill with 9 at Tempo SUCK by the way. Here's how it went:

9-mile Tempo Run @ 6:06/mi pace

6:06, 6:04, 6:05, 6:06, 6:06, 6:05, 6:06, 6:05, 6:05

avg 6:05/mi pace

While workouts like this are terribly mind-numbing (especially if you do this at a gym like mine where there's no TV and you're just staring out a window blindly into the night), they are nice because the treadmill locks in the pace and you can just (literally) fight to stay on. Either way, it was a long night, followed once again by lots of core-strength exercises. 

Friday, I got quite the shock though. About 3 minutes in to what was to be an easy 7-mile run, I was running through some grass, not paying attention, of course, and managed to step on a rock that I didn't see was there. Rolled my ankle really badly and had to take a 5 minute time-out to assess the situation. All I could think of was "SHHHIIIIITTTT, 10 weeks of training out-the-window!!". Luckily after a few minutes of massaging it and generally checking things out, I felt okay to finish out the run and did so with very little pain. About 3 hours later though, I'd pay for it! My (right) ankle had swollen up to about twice the size of normal and was really painful. Of course this change happened AT the dinner-party that I had gone to for the evening. So, upon returning home at about 11:45pm, I finally was able to start damage control. Ice, heat, ice and some time with the ultrasound got the ball rolling, then I took a few aspirin and hit the sack with my foot elevated on some pillows for the night. 

The next morning when I woke up, luckily things were more under control. Although I wasn't at 100%, the ankle felt like about 70%. That said, I made the call to push off the long run that was to be done that morning to Sunday and instead headed out for an easy 8-miler. More careful recovery on Saturday and by Sunday I was ready to attempt the long, 16-miler for the week... even though my tired, sore legs were begging me not to. 

Long Run: 16-miles @ 6:41/mi pace

Avg'd 6:45 pace for entire run (incl. first and last miles)

The ankle didn't give me any problems on the long run but I did definitely fall apart. Managed to hold onto 6:41/mi pace thru mile 12 but then hit the wall, and was reduced to around 7:00/mi pace for the last 4. Given that 31 miles of the 60 that I ran this week were between about 5:45-6:50/mi pace, I was just happy to have survived it all and definitely am gaining more and more of an understanding of this Hanson's mentality of "Accumulated Fatigue". I can't imagine how good it is going to feel when I can finally race on fresh legs! 11 weeks down, 6 to go! Happy Training!