The Ultimate Test

It has been a lont time since I have last updated the blog. I have been busy, though I am having difficulties explaining exactly what I have been so busy with. It seems like I spend all of my time doing exactly 5 things:

1. Working out, be it strength training, running, in and out of physical therapy, etc.
2. Eating—muscles need fuel
3. Grocery shopping and cooking (in order to satisfy activity #2)
4. Working—apparently food costs money; so does physical therapy and going to the pool
5. Sleeping—wish I could skip this one but have not yet been able to figure out how

Food is definitely the focus here. It is not just about breakfast, lunch and dinner. Eating for me has been continuous. My desk at work is overflowing with nuts, dried fruit, and chocolate. Occasional family events tend to revolve around a meal. TV watching is almost always combined with eating. Even long workouts imply carefully planned consumption of special “GU” to keep me going. And during those rare moments when I am not eating, I am ultimately planning the next meal.

Of course I run to eat, and I eat to run.

The ultimate test for all of this training is not the marathon itself. The race is more of a celebration after the craziness that the training season brings into runners’ lives. The test for me is coming up tomorrow morning. With three weeks left before the marathon, I plan to do a 20 mile training run.

I am excited and nervous. I am acting on the assumption that my ankle will hold me up. A lot of runners will be doing their last big long run this weekend, and I expect the marathon course will be quite crowded. I heard that some out of town runners come out to Boston to do this run on the marathon course, and that locals come out to cheers the runners on. When I trained for the Boston Marathon two years ago, this is the run I did not get to do because I was nursing an IT band injury then, and it makes me look forward to this run even more.

My "Olympic" Training

While it is true that I have been glued to the TV every evening watching the Olympics, I have also been doing some of my own "Olympic level" training. Here is the last week’s summary of my efforts:

• Two one-hour sessions of deep water running
• Two physical therapy sessions involving running and intense strength training
• Two morning aerobic workouts, each of which involved an elliptical machine and some run/walking on the treadmill
• And the week’s finale—my “long run” (total of 4 hours and 15 minutes):
• 3 x 45 minutes + 1 x 30 minutes on the arc trainer
• 3 x 15 minutes of run/walking on the treadmill
• 1 x 45 minutes on the elliptical machine

As you can see from the above summary, I am slowly but surely starting to run. So now is a great time for you to enter my training mileage and race time contest for a chance to win a $25 Amazon gift certificates. Please look at this earlier post for more information on how to enter the contest.

Announcing Training Mileage and Race Time Contest

I invite you to participate in a contest for a chance to win $25 Amazon gift certificate. All you have to do is make a guess at:

1. How many miles I will run training for the marathon between January 1st and April 19, 2010, not counting the marathon itself.
2. How long it will take me to complete the Boston Marathon.

I will select two winners after the race--one for the closest estimate of my total training mileage and one for the closest estimate of my race time. Please feel free to refer to my running log to help you make the estimates. And here is a hint--my total training mileage for January will not change, but my ankle will be strong enough to start gradually ramping up my miles in February.

Here is how to enter the contest:

1. Please make a donation to the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge. The suggested donation for a single contest entry is $5.
2. Submit your best guess by filling out this contest form.

You can enter the contest multiple times! The more you contribute to the fight against cancer, the more estimates you can make increasing your chances of winning! Good luck and thank you for your support!

It's Getting Better All The Time...

It has been two weeks since I have sprained my ankle. While I am not quite running yet, but I am happy to report (as I sit here with an ice pack strapped to my foot) that there is definite progress in the right direction.

I have been walking without crutches for over a week! I started physical therapy sessions last week, which have been extremely helpful.

Over all I have only missed about a week of training. I have started working out ever since the physical therapist has cleared me to go wild on a stationery bike or an elliptical machine last Tuesday. My scheduled 13 mile run last weekend became a 2 hour and 15 minute workout on a bike and an arc trainer. Boring--yes, but so worth it.

While my foot continues to display a wide range of blues and purples, I feel very optimistic!

Everyone around me--my family, my friends and my colleagues--has been extremely supportive, and I am infinitely thankful to you all! My blues is over. I am excited and optimistic. I hope to begin the transition back to running very soon.

The Rules Have Changed

Two days ago I had to toss my training schedule out the window. It was a very sad moment, and I will preface my explanation of what happened by firmly stating that I am still planning on training for and running the Boston Marathon this year. So what happened?

With just over 13 weeks left till the marathon I managed to fall down the stairs in our apartment building and sprain my ankle. Nick had to come and carry me back to our apartment. There were a few tears, and a few x-rays. Now there are the crutches and a lot of hopping around.

Nick and I have very different memories of the prognosis the doctor gave me on the speed of my recovery, but we agree that my foot is definitely getting better. The swelling is decreasing, and today I have started very carefully putting some weight on it.

Before this accident, I was very much looking forward to getting into the routine of running and strength training. I was excited about being able to add extra miles and track workouts to my schedule this year. More than anything, I was hoping to have a season without injuries.

Since clearly such "utopia" is not to be, I am determined to see the bright side of things. I did not break any bones, nor did I damage any other parts of my body (not even my brain) during the fall. My previously nonexistent upper body strength is growing at lightening speed with every crutch step I take. I have over 3 months before the marathon--the same accident 2 months later would have left me with no chance of running the race. The injury is just another challenge along the way.

More importantly, in the grand scheme of things my sprained ankle is a scratch compared to the suffering the cancer patients endure, and the courage and the strength they muster in their fight against cancer. I will only work harder on trying to heal and rehabilitate while thinking about the people I am running for. They endure radiation and chemotherapy--I can definitely overcome a mere sprained ankle and run the marathon for them.

Walk Running in Walla Walla

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Spending Christmas in Walla Walla is as wonderful as ever. In anticipation of large dinner and a busy morning tomorrow, I went for a run this morning.

Ever since I woke up with a stiff hip over a week ago, I have pulled back a bit on my running. However, under Jack's guidance I have been slowly building the miles back up by doing some "walk running." This morning I did 52 minutes of 1 minute walking and 3 minute running in the fields.

I love running in the wheat fields in Walla Walla. Even though the Blue Hills were hiding in the fog this morning, the rolling hills and the bare fields surrounding me were as beautiful as ever.

Thanksgiving Day Run

There is no better way to prepare for a holiday dinner than to go for a hard and fast run. This is exactly what my friend and fellow DFMC runner Bess and I set out to do.

We chose to run the Boston Volvo 5K Road Race mainly based on its location and starting time, and it turned out to be a very nice race to run even with the rather noticeable hill at the beginning in the first mile. Unfortunately, this was not a PR for me, but I enjoyed the race immensely.
Clearly Bess and I were far from the only ones with an urge to run on Thanksgiving Day morning. Over a thousand people ran the race along with us, and at the same time there were numerous other races taking place in the Greater Boston area. Even the New York Times published a blurb about the urge to run on Thanksgiving.