Getting Back on Track

Before I get into this post, I want to take the opportunity to thank the following people for their generous donations to my Team Victory Boston Marathon CrowdRise page: Ellen W.M., Sarah & Jamie C., Anu P., Phyllis M., Kelly & Simon D., Sarah B., Erin, Erik & Easton R., Sarah P., and a very dear friend who donated Anonymously.  Thanks to these wonderful folks, I am happy to report that I am HALF WAY to my goal of $5,000...but with 5 months still to go before the race, I think we should try to SMASH that goal!

I also want to give special thanks to the wonderful Servio & Chef Pooler at Bergamot Restaurant for donating two incredible dining packages that I will be raffling/auctioning off at a later date. In the meantime, if you've never been to this gem of a restaurant in Somerville, you should check it out sooner rather than later.

A Little Advice 

So here's a small piece of advice from me to you.  If you are a runner, NEVER EVER take a month off.  Ouch!

I ran my first half marathon just shy of a month ago on October 12.  Leading up to it, I ran (almost religiously) five days a week for four months. In all of that time, I trained injury free only to tweek something in my knee around mile 4.  By the end of the race I knew I was going to be sidelined for awhile to recover from whatever I had done to myself.  My plan was to take a week off, let my knee recover and pick up again...but you know what they say about the best laid plans.

Over the next few weeks, I moved into a new home that needed a lot of work and time.  I also suffered a massive allergy attack that landed me in the ER because I could barely breath.  My one week hiatus lasted a whopping 26 days.

This Saturday, I was determined to get myself back on track, slowly but surely.  The marathon training plan I've chosen to follow (Hal Higdon Novice 2) calls for 18 weeks of training, which requires me to start mid-December.  I figured it would take me we a week or two to get my body back to where it needs to be to go full bore into the plan.  Good thinking on my part because YIKES were my first two runs HARD.

This is what a month off can do.  Yikes!

It was clear that the strength I had built up during my half marathon training is still there.  My legs are strong, my muscles didn't hurt, but a mile into my Saturday morning run my knee started screaming and my lung capacity was shot.  I can usually crush a casual 5k run in about 28 minutes...not so much this weekend.


Saturday: 3.1 miles, 33:24, 10:45 minute mile
Sunday: 3.1 miles, 35:48, 11:33 minute mile

Yeah.  That was a wake up call.

First things first, I'll be calling the doctor in the morning to get my knee checked out so I can get it as healthy as possible in time for me training plan to begin.  Second, I need to focus on getting my lungs back in the game.

Now for those of you who have donated to my Team Victory Boston Marathon CrowdRise page who are reading this and thinking you might have made a bad investment, I promise you DO NOT WORRY.  I'll be back in fighting shape sooner rather than later, and I look forward to sharing positive news with you in the coming days.