OC Marathon Training: Hot & Tight!
I’m running the OC Marathon this May with my buddy Todd. With two months to go, I thought I’d revive a practice I started back when I ran my first marathon: keeping a training diary, of sort, on my blog. And hey! I’ve got this shiny new site all set up, so this seems like a good way to break that in, too.
Today’s run was, for this point in the training season, short but on pace. 8 miles in 1:04:36. It’s a warm day out there – about 76 degrees Fahrenheit here in sunny Costa Mesa, but with a nice breeze blowing off of Upper Newport Bay, where I do most of my runs.
There are a few reasons for the shortness of the run. For starters, I took all of last week off to try and mend an inflamed iliotibial band in my right leg. I set it off during a long slow distance run two Sundays back and aggravated it further last Sunday (despite cutting my miles). So, I succumbed this week and gave it a rest. Also, I’ve been fighting a chest cold most of the week — nothing serious, but enough to make me feel like crap every morning when I woke up. And finally, I was a tad hungover this morning after going on a pub crawl and then out dancing at the Detroit Bar with some friends last night. All of that added up to taking it easy today.
Anyhow, after a shitty first 4 miles or so ( I was wheezing pretty good at the halfway mark, and took a short break to walk it off), I managed to hit my stride and finish the back half of the run in fine form. Really happy to see that I managed to hit 8-minute pace almost dead on. If I can keep that up, I’ll easily beat my goal of finishing the marathon in under 3:45:00. The IT band feels fine, and while my lungs are a bit irritated, I’m not headed for an oxygen tent anytime soon. So, it’s back to regular training this week. With just 8 weeks until race day, there are no more “sick days.”
