Well it finally happened. After all the miles on my feet it turned out that the bike would be the culprit that sent me to the emergency department. Just when I was starting to try and heal from my calf strain and keep my fitness up by riding my bike. I guess they don't call it endurance for nothing. On my way back home riding through the neighborhood faster than I should have I wasn't paying close enough attention to the parked car that took me out. It all happened so fast that I can't really say exactly what happened other than knowing that I landed flat on the curb with my face ( Yes, I did have a helmet on and pretty sure it saved the rest of my skull). The homeowner came out of the home pretty upset that some blinking guy in the street was by her car “what the __ are you doing?” she yelled from her front stoop because it was 4:30am and dark. When she approached, I politely explained in my pain that I had hit her car. Her tone changed immediately the minute she put two...
I am in a constant state of framing and reframing just what my next move is for this weekend. Strikes against the marathon: 1. Diminished fitness 2. Calf niggles continue 3. Facial fractures 4. Poor practice with nutrition And yet it's tough to to leave it on the line at this point. The race organizers say I can downgrade (perhaps "modify my registration" or "Transfer" are gentler words) to the half marathon until the close of the expose (Saturday afternoon) So if i scratch the marathon what do I have left. A 3 month masters class in endurance to draw from sometime down the road? A plaque that says, "love the process?" I'm not at the point of resignation yet, but I'm getting there with some reflection. Perhaps I rushed signing up for a marathon when a half-marathon would have be suffient with aims as Chicago in 2026 and the Boston in 2027. Its interesting how on track I was 4 weeks ago and how quickly things unraveled. Alright so I run the ...
It's tough navigating the thin line between giving time for recovery and readiness for action. Last week, before my bike accident, I set some interim goals to help give some semblance of structure to my marathon training as the wheels started to come off. 1.) Practice the nutrition and 2.) test out new gear. There is a mantra in the running world that says, "nothing new or race day" There is good wisdom in this because a new pair of shorts or shirt or socks might rub the wrong way and create an added layer of discomfort over the 26.2 mile course. With this in mind. I decided to dress for success with a new singlet and shorts that arrived a few weeks ago. I decided to leave my new race shoes at home today and go with a tried and true pair so I wasn't making too many changes all at once as I worked to get back up to speed. Today it is a blistering 50 degrees out making the new outfit idea for the conditions. It is wild to think over the course of this training cycl...