With Boston approaching, and so many of us finding our training limited, this seems like a useful topic to share our experiences and insight.
Robin, you are most frustrated, having apparently not trained at all in more than a week. I consider this a worthwhile rest that will reap more rewards than anything else you could do. As soon as you can get in the pool, on the bike, the elliptical etc., you will, and that will keep your aerobic fitness where it needs to be on April 18th. Unless you heal, all other training is pointless.
Greg, I think you too have more to gain from cross training and rest than running. The hamstring must heal for you to have any success at Boston. A long taper is better than the planned taper. You have sufficient miles. My hamstring injuries have only improved by NOT running. Spinning, water running, and the elliptical are more than adequate to maintain aerobic fitness during the healing process. They worked for me last year. You will know you are healed when you can run without feeling any pain. Until then, continue to rest and cross train, but don't run. Otherwise, you will set yourself back.
Lance, I recommend lots of beer and donuts. No, seriously, you seem to be doing all you can do, but I still think you should be running less. Your plan to run 45-50 miles over the next 3 days puts way too much emphasis on mileage and running and not nearly enough on rest and cross training. You among all of us have more than sufficient mileage at this point. I know you disagree, but I believe you would do better by resting to the point of being pain-free even if it means NO RUNNING for the next week or two and only 20 miles per week after that. Again, I think the goal now must be pain-free running.
On April 18th, if we can start pain-free, we'll have a better chance of finishing and not being limited by pain during Boston. We can all run through pain that is not debilitating, but we all know how debilitating pain can stop us in our tracks. Healing now is the best insurance against debilitating pain at Boston.
Older, slower, and trying to keep up with Tall Dave.
I'ts a good thing I don't crave donuts.Speaking for myself, I still believe that I can miraculously have it all. 4 weeks is way too long to taper if I want to be anything close to sharp at Boston. Hell it was only suppossed to be two weeks. As it is, this will be my lowest week in months and probably 25 miles short of what it should have been, and with no speedwork. So, I have been resting. And rehabbing. And taking a machete to my shoes.-Plus I mentally can't handle it.I get what you are saying. And it may turn out you are right. But as of now, this minute, I still plan to run as much as I'm able, rest and rehab when not running, and kick your butt on the 18th.
Easy for me to say , But, Hope you all can taper and CROSS TRAIN well and TRUST that your training done since Jan . will do the rest .
[from experience] Starting a marathon injured is no fun,doesn't make you tough, only sets you up for dissapointment and the recovery seems to go on forever.
Greg's right ,you got 3 weeks to HEAL or Boston will give your injuries a beating you will remember for a long time,
every day you go out to run, , be smart good luck !!
Mancub I know you speak from experience. For me it's not about toughness or anything. It's about my brain as much as my body. This is my shot at a lifetime PR. I can't imagine I'll ever be this well trained again. Maybe I will be but who knows? It's about taking my shot and if I blow up I can live with that. But if I completely baby myself for 3 weeks I will not be able to convince myself as I sit there in the 8th corral after months of work that I am capable of hitting my goal. I do get what you are saying and my body still may make me succumb. I'm not there yet though.
LT , Understood I did the same, never say die ! take your shot race day, but if it's not gonna happen because of achilles
save yourself , walk off the course, run away and live to fight another day , cause the achilles is more stubborn then any human mind.
thanks lawrunnah. in my case you ah spot on, 100% right. funny how priorities change when the chips ah down.
In order to see the truth, sometimes you have to loose an eye.
http://www.runningahead.com/groups/Utri/
You will be better with rest. Expect a PR, really. Who knows, if Lance keeps aggravating his injuries, we might all finish ahead of him.
I get what you are saying. And it may turn out you are right. But as of now, this minute, I still plan to run as much as I'm able, rest and rehab when not running, and kick your butt on the 18th.
Lance, I like this attitude. Gets me motivated.
My only concern is that, if I finish ahead of you, I want to be sure that both of us are healthy and neither has an excuse. I'm sure you'll feel the same way if (when) you finish ahead of me.
Actually my real hope is that we both run a 3:05 or better and we have to sprint to the finish just to keep up with each other, meaning that we are both healthy enough to do this.
Better yet, I'd like to pass you on Boylston with 200 yards to go ...
Coming back to this to clarify something. My biggest issue with resting/recovering/whatever is that I didn't want it to be more than 3 weeks out. From what I understand, whatever training adaptations that occur for a marathon cease to be effective for that marathon at anything less than 3 weeks. For that reason, I wanted the best shot to be in the best shape I could be at the three week point, which is Monday. 4 weeks was jnust too much time to lose fitness.
After that, it doesn't much matter what I do other than trying to stay sharp for race day. Ideally I'd be tapering to something like 65 next week, 50 the week after and maybe 30 the week of, but that three weeks is the part that I'll probably slack off on to try to get better if I'm not getting better naturally. I've also largely abandoned running anything with any pace which was also not part of the plan but is meant to be a concession to the injuries. So I might not be being quite as reckless as it would appear.
Lance, I like this attitude. Gets me motivated. My only concern is that, if I finish ahead of you, I want to be sure that both of us are healthy and neither has an excuse. I'm sure you'll feel the same way if (when) you finish ahead of me. Actually my real hope is that we both run a 3:05 or better and we have to sprint to the finish just to keep up with each other, meaning that we are both healthy enough to do this. Better yet, I'd like to pass you on Boylston with 200 yards to go ...
I figured you'd like that.
No excuses here. If I'm too injured to race the race I should it will be my own fault - no excuses. While it would be awesome and wholly unexpected for me to run 3:05, if it comes down to Boylston we know who will win that sprint to the finish. And gimme the 3:05 and I'll be absolutely fine with that.
LT, I HAD to check , last 4 weeks last year for me ,heading into Baystate 67.1 61.8 29.1
14.2 [ drastic dropoff last 2 weeks] which left me with spring in my step at the starting line
and a strong mind and desire to run.
I'll admit , It helped that the the last 3 weeks I ran [ totally without premeditation] 26.2 miles at
half marathon or sub marathon pace, which made the early marathon pace seem easy ,
Good luck and wishing you all a painfree Boston!
Two weeks out now, and I feel fully healed.
Cremer, glad to see you did some water running after today's 13-miler. If it felt good, as you write in your log, it can only help. I recommend water running STRONGLY to anyone who is dealing with injuries. It is comforting and therapeutic. At least I'm convinced of that from my experience. Use it to supplement your workouts, and see if you can even get a workout in the process if you are not looking to use it simply as recovery therapy. Tall Dave, thanks for introducing me (and Greg C) to the benefits of water running.
Lance, you are now at taper time. I I hope you consider the benefits of using these last two weeks to get some REAL HEALING going.
Cuch, nice to see some serious rest in your log. I have to believe that you're healing as fast as physically possible. That's what rest does, and that's more important that anything else right now. You have all the base and miles you need. Hope you can join us on Tuesday.
I plan to use these last two weeks for some water stop training and mild hill workouts up Oak Street. I'm convinced after last Wednesday, and Derry in January, that the hills (inclines) at Boston will be my weakest link.
Bottom line: I will not run through any pain during the next two weeks. I'm hopeful (and reasonably confident) that I won't experience any. At Boston, pain or no pain, I will run as fast and steady as I can. I plan to have some Ibuprofen with me and may take some before the race just in case and will definitely take some during the race to deal with any debilitating pain that starts. Hopefully, that will allow me to run through it, to a point anyway.