a marathon from the wrong perspective

8 weeks 5 days ‘til my first marathon! Scary. Exciting. Understandable apprehension? I’ve committed perhaps 2 big no-no’s in my preparation to run 26.2 miles.

The first is that I revamped my running form about a month ago…after I barely survived a 12 mile run because my left knee was sparking sharp pain with every step. The same thing that had knocked off a couple of weeks of training for me when I did my Half a 2 years ago. By complete coincidence that next weekend I went with Sarah to Gazelle Sports so she could get some new running shoes. My friend Chelsea (who has run the Boston Marathon, she knows her stuff) was working and when I told her what I had been running, she was dumbfounded I was doing all of my running alone. She tried to convince me to run some running groups (sorry Chelsea, but I have no desire to ever run 10+ miles at 7am!) but she did hand me a pamphlet on running technique and a free evaluation class Gazelle’s holds every Wednesday. I never made it to the class. But I did do some research and the matter and found that I had good form for the first part of my runs, but as soon as my legs started to get tired I was pounding my heels on the pavement. Not good. I wasn’t sure if this was what was hurting my knee, but speed be damned, I was going to run on the front of my feet. Mixed results, on the positive my knee has not bothered me since. The bad news, my speed has dropped significantly and my calves scream during and after every run, almost regardless of distance.

The other big no-no I’ve committed is that until last Sunday, I had NOT been following any sort of official workout. I’d basically been using what I remembered doing for the half-marathon. Turns out I had been mostly correct in what I was doing…but was stunned to see that the longest I need to run is only 20 miles…3 weeks before the marathon. Sweet! my biggest mistake has been that I need to have one slightly longer run during the week…about half of whatever my long run is going to be that weekend.

Naturally I figured this out right after I ran a grueling 16 miles on Sunday…and promptly got sick Monday afternoon. I missed my first 2 days of work of the school year Tuesday and Wednesday and obviously haven’t been able to run or anything. I still feel pretty crappy now, but the fever has been gone all day so I’m considering putting 30 minutes of bike time in on my trainer. Considering.