I am back!!!

For a while it looked like I had lost both speed and endurance! I reached a peak before the Buckeye 50K. While recovering from that race, I injured my lower right leg (which is stronger than the left) by overstretching around the ankle (at the top, not the sides). The main pain went away quickly, but I was left with a lingering irritation and discomfort that got worse with running time. This would slow me down.

Signs that I had lost endurance:

1. Two weeks ago we had a group run with a 15 or 20 mile option. Most people did 20. I barely managed 15 and it felt really hard.

2. Last week we did the “triangle of death”, a total of 15 miles. I only did 10 and felt dead!

Signs that I had lost speed:

1. In my Wednesday speed workouts, my pace for the tempo run is slower than 7 min/mile, while before the Buckeye 50K it was around 6:30.

2. In my daily runs I am going slow. Runs with a pace of 10 min/mile with Liz feel hard (if you can believe that!) My weekly runs to the Rec Center via the Buckeye Trail are very slow.

But, everything changed last week. I decided to put an insert in my shoes and a heel lift in the right foot. That eliminated any irritation and seems to have healed my right foot, so now I am running with two strong legs. My Buckeye trail run last Thursday was the best for a long time. My Wednesday tempo run was at a decent 7 min/mile pace for 6 miles.

Finally, on Saturday I joined about 100 runners for the last long run before the Akron marathon. The run was 20 miles, following the Akron course. I was planning to run it at 9 min/mile. The first 4 miles were: 8:41, 8:32, 8:16, 8:18.

We then got into the towpath (mile 4.5). Instead of slowing down, I actually speeded up a bit: 8:03, 7:59. 8:09, 8:10.

Coming out from the towpath (mile 8.5) we hit the hills of the Metropark, slowing down (as expected) but not bad: 8:29, 8:33, 8:49, 8:51

At the top of the hill, there was Gatorade. I filled my bottle, plus I had the small energy drink that Liz likes. After this point, I ran surprisingly strong: 7:55, 8:02, 7:55, 7:55, 7:46, 7:22, 7:06, 7:15.

These are amazing times, at the end of a really long run! I finished strong, not exhausted or tired.

This good run makes me confident that I can run a decent run next Sunday for the River Run Half Marathon. The Akron Marathon will be a training run. I plan to run it easily with a 3:40 targeted time. The real race this year will be the Athens Marathon. As it turns out, I am going alone. I will try to enjoy the trip, even though the focus is on the Marathon.