My day started with waffles. My dad put ice cream in the middle of mine!
I've officially gone over 200 miles (I think it's around...206?) in my new shoes and they're still the best shoes ever! They like to hang out with their other shoe friends.
My run today was pretty good--I did a really relaxed, non-strenuous 8 miles as a "long" run in preparation for my next half-marathon, which is two weeks from today. Today is also two weeks out from the half-marathon I just completed, so it was my first official "non-rest" day and I thought it was fitting that I do my long run today. It went well, but I had some old aches and pains pop up again, which seem to have simmered down but were nonetheless discouraging.
Post-run dinner: jicama salad fort? Jicama is surprisingly like Lincoln Logs...
Here's the training schedule that I'm following in preparation for the next H-M:
As you can see, the black is what I've done so far in recovery/preparation, and the red is what I hope to do. Honestly, I have no idea if that's even close to what I'll end up doing...but it'll be the gist. Low-mileage for the most part, one more longer run in the middle of this week at the latest (if I feel okay from today) and lots of rest, perhaps some cross-training. I think that for most runners, doing two half-marathons 4 weeks apart is probably not too big of a problem, especially since I'm not killing myself over the time I complete them in and am certainly not setting world records. I'm just doing them because...I like a challenge, and I like to race and compete. I'm pretty nervous though, with such a short interval between them, because even though Pam Reed might be able to run a marathon back-to-front and then front-to-back on Saturday, and run another marathon on a different continent on Sunday, I'm much more prone to injury and fatigue problems. Honestly, sometimes it feels as though every time I step out to run, I wind up with some sort of injury! My experience with intensive physical therapy in the fall taught me that my body, unfortunately, is prone to injury due to my physiology. Not sure why I got stuck with this weird physiology, because both of my parents have had long, successful running careers! In order to POSSIBLY scrape by for a few more decades without having my "default injury"--IT-Band Syndrome--pop up, I have to do daily stretching and strengthening exercises, and I've learned that even that's not enough sometimes. If I skip days or weeks of my stretches or strengthening, I've found that I really have to pay for it, in pain, need for excessive recovery, and overuse injuries in my weak areas.
Recently I've been wondering if some of the issue is form-related; in fact, I'm sure some of it must be. Most modern runners tend not to run "efficiently" because we now spend our days at desks and wearing weird, "unnatural" shoes that mess up our alignment. So we have to re-teach ourselves how to run the natural way; as if we still had to run for our livelihood and didn't wear shoes that throw off our balance. That's why 90% of runners get injured at some point--we spend our lives doing things that un-naturalize our proper running form!
This is one of the big reasons that I'm doing so much reading and research on "natural running" and proper running form. I want to know what the best thing I can do would be for both my running and my body so that I can run for as many years as possible. The one thing I'm not catching onto too much is the whole "barefoot running" notion...I think that it can work great for some people, but for others like me, support is necessary. My last running shoes before these had less of a drop in the heel, and were in other words, less supportive. They didn't work for me and I got injured. They were on the way down the ladder of support, but I don't dare go any further down that road! I'm sticking with support. Other than that, I think the best thing I can work on is my form, which as I've said, I'm gathering information on. I'll be sure to keep everyone updated on what I find!
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