Marathon Training Thread - Week Ending 5/8

pablo - it does, but limited. Only 2000 marathon slots and 1500 half slots. The times are slow so I'm sure everyone on this board could get in. It will probably sell out today.

Good to see a lot of training and racing going well. I have been MIA from this thread for a couple weeks because I decided to not run the Pittsburgh marathon due to my slow-healing foot injury. All spring long, I have had mild pain in the heel area approximately where the achilles attaches to the calcaneus. While it did not completely prevent me from running, post-run walking was painful. So I know there is some damage there that is not clearing up. Rather than risk further injury with ramped up miles and then the 26 in Pittsburgh this Sunday, I decided to shut down for a couple weeks and crosstrain, with hopes that it will heal completely and I can ramp up this summer for Chicago (which I want to run 100% healthy) in the fall. I have been riding the bike, rowing and lifting, and can feel slow but steady improvement of less sensitivity in the vicinty when I palpate the heel area.

I'll (hopefully) be back for the fall marathon thread.

Good luck, everyone.

Mike - sorry to hear that. Are you sure that the injury is at the site of the achilles-calcaneus? Reason for asking is that I have what feels like achilles pain relatively frequently, but it's actually a tight calf pulling on the achilles. Stretching the calf clears it up. Wondering if there might be something similar going on with you?

Pablo - missed the gator story on my first post. Damn that made me laugh. Are they really that prevalent in your part of Florida?

Marmite

Can't be 100% sure of any injury, but soreness is above the heel, but just below the rounded rear portion of the foot, on the rear/outside. It is only sore when I press on it. I could have run enough to run a decent full marathin but that would have delayed the healing another month and risked furthur inflammation/damage to the area. I had been running on it for four months, expecting to wake up one day and have it gone. It was extra tender after my couple long runs, so I knew that increased volume exacerbated it. I thought the best course was to get it healed up without have to resort to another spring-time cortisone shot. We'll see. It has been feeling noticably better the last few days so hope to be back in early June.

Mike - Man, that sucks! I suppose it's a good thing you've decided to pull the plug, though I'm sure that doesn't make it any easier of a decision. I can certainly relate to those same feelings of wanting to wake up one day hoping the problem just solved itself. Hopefully it's already on the right track to healing and I can only hope you'll get healthy and stay healthy to put in a solid cycle leading into Chicago. Good luck and keep us posted!

marmite - Yeah, gators are a pretty common sight around here....only in the water though. When you see them on land, you better turn around and run!

[quote]pablo wrote:

Mike - Man, that sucks! I suppose it's a good thing you've decided to pull the plug, though I'm sure that doesn't make it any easier of a decision. I can certainly relate to those same feelings of wanting to wake up one day hoping the problem just solved itself. Hopefully it's already on the right track to healing and I can only hope you'll get healthy and stay healthy to put in a solid cycle leading into Chicago. Good luck and keep us posted!

[quote]

Hey Pablo,

thanks. Last year, I tried to run Pittsburgh on a sore achilles, tweaked it at three miles and only did the half. And I was walking with discomfort in the achilles for over a month. We have to be learning something from all this running!