Training Run

Time: 60 min
Distance: 10 kilometers

Comments: Made myself get out there at a halfway decent hour and put the effort in. Did the long walk down to the beach and got down to it.I felt a bit flagged after Tuesday's run so I erred on the side of caution and took yesterday off. Seemed to work since today turned into a really solid run. I felt much more in control of the thing than I have for pretty much any run I've done since getting back into this. Stuck to the dirt and tried to keep my pace consistent. Got blown by the wayside by some dude just before the halfway point. Had to restrain the urge to kick it up a notch and keep him in my sites. GAAAAHHHH!!! This is killin' me!

Training Run

Time: 45 min
Distance: 8 kilometers

Comments: Got out on the road a bit later than I wanted. A bit of laziness, a bit of anxiety, a bit of god knows what.Took the extended walk down to the beachfront and ran the whole session there on the dirt surfaces. It seemed to help in that the 'stabby' feeling in the knee never showed up. But it was still  a long way from an injury-free run (see below).Kept it overslow and plodding. Tried to keep the stress off my knees and ankles as much as possible. Focused on posture but not very successfully. 

Marathon Training Summary: Week 6

Time: 120 min
Distance: 21 kilometers

Comments: A disaster of a week but better than last week only by the slightest. I got in one training run and a long run for the first time since the initial week of training. I'm really getting concerned about this race. I know this is race I'm only running to finish but this is not an auspicious start to training. I need miles. Lots of them. And I'm not getting them in.I'm hoping I can actually get a full week's of runs in for next week. If so, there is a hope in hell I can salvage this thing. But, the bottom line is that next week is week 12. Cut the taper off and that means I have two months to get up to 20-mile long run shape. That's cutting it DAMNED close.Injury update: OK. This right leg horseshit seems to be associated with the running on hard surfaces. It only took 50 yards or so on concrete today for the stabby feeling in the side of the knee to say ""Howdy!"" And t,he malencon I typically do my

Long Run

Time: 75 min
Distance: 13 kilometers

Comments: God what a frickin frustrating week! What a frickin frustrating training! I held off running since Wednesday. Partly to see if a bit more rest would help the leg, partly due to out and out depression.This morning I was determined to get out there and get a full fucking hour in no matter what. If it would mean injuring myself and giving up on the race, so be it. I'm just too pissed off to play around with this shit anymore.So I stretched a bit and gave myself a bit of extra time by starting at the beach level. Got going and tried to keep a slow pace, regular footfalls and good posture. Crank it out. Nothing fancy, just me and the pain, one on one.But it wasn't as bad as I expected. My leg mostly cooperated and it turned into a question of conditioning. Which I'm woefully weak on at the moment - but that's not the same as regular pain. I ain't got a problem pushing myself to collapse on this front.I a

Training Run

Time: 45 min
Distance: 8 kilometers

Comments: And so, a week since my last run, I finally got a workout in. Sickness, deadlines and just flat-out depression have conspired to keep me off the pavement but I wasn't going to let it go one more day. But getting out the door was a trick. It's cold, and wet, and miserable in Lima. I procrastinated rather well most of the morning before getting through the doorway. Of course, once I got into the run it proved one of the things I've long observed about crappy days like this - they are perfect for running. There is something about pushing through the mist in your face and reaching the point you actually break a sweat that is satisfying in a way no other workout is. The run itself was pretty systematic. I just hit an easy pace and dr

Marathon Training Summary: Week 5

Time: 75 min
Distance: 13 kilometers

Comments: A disaster of a week. I struggled through the knee pain and return to mileage as well as I could and even felt I had gotten my caloritic intake back in the range I need to have it for the effort......then the wheels fell off.I knew I was tired Wednesday night and I thought it was a good 'been workin' out' kind of tired. Nope. It turned out to be a for-the-next-three-days-your-ass-is-mine flu kind of tired. Here in Peru it's called the grippe and it sucks to the extreme.I hit the bed Wednesday night and began a run of sleeping 20 hours a day and not being worth squat the four I was actually awake. Didn't leave the house again until last night, for God's sake!Anyhow. I felt much better this morning and considered putting in a run. But I figured an extra day off won't hurt me as much as a relapse to the agony of last week. Thus, here I am again... another wee,k closer to the race and still

Training Run

Time: 45 min
Distance: 8 kilometers

Comments: A cool to cold morning that made it difficult to get out the door. Put things off relatively late and, as a result, had to contend with the irritations of Lima morning traffic. Grrr. But out the door I got and to the malencon with me. The mid-week long session was on tap so I got out there and headed to the far end of the sidewalk and then came back. While things weren't as overtly sloppy as yesterday, I wasn't setting any records for good-looking form either.But got through it and felt pretty good after.

Conditions:

Hour: 9:00 a.m.
Surface: concrete/asphalt
Warm-up:none
Weather: overcast
Temperature: 59 degrees
Humidity: 86 percent
Wind: breezy
Location: Miraflores, Peru
Shoes: Brooks Trance
Con Musica

Injury update: Again, this ache on the side of my, right knee is hanging ar

Training Run

Time: 30 min
Distance: 5.5 kilometers
Comments: A pretty good run. It wasn't as misty and miserable which made the outlook better, at least.The worries about the knee had me doing a pretty solid warm-up and stretch beforehand. If nothing else, I've tightened up considerably in my layoff.Started slow and, sure enough the outside of the right knee started feeling achy. It didn't get to the threshold of real pain though so I slowed my stride, focused on my form and ran with it. By the end of the run it had eased considerably (unlike Sunday when it kept growing in intensity).The run itself felt pretty good. I had the tank and the conditioning for the thing but it was sloppy, sloppy, sloppy. Dissociative running at it's ugliest. Yet, despite not being the prettiest thing to behold, it was a very satisfying effort.

Marathon Training Summary: Week 4

Time: 45 min
Distance: 8 kilometers

Comments: Well, it's been a bit uneven over the past few weeks for the training regimen. I took the backup pair of shoes with me but they ended up getting more work on the cobblestones of Cusco than on the pavement for any type of training. That said, I did a TON of walking and a fair bit of climbing as well. Here is a picture of my rather tired feet after I had climbed up Machu Picchu - the mountain, not the ruin itself (which is there right above my left shoe in the picture).The next day I scrambled to the top of Putukusi, the little peak there above my right shoe in the picture. It's at 2,600 meters and Machu Picchu mountain is significantly higher than that but I don't know the actual elevation.I did have every intent of going on

Long Run

Time: 80 min
Distance: 14 kilometers

Comments: After two weeks off I figure I just might as well go out and get the big boy in and see how much pain it would cause me. Although I wasn't 'training' per se, I stayed pretty active over the last 14 days and did a ton of up and down work among various ruins. And the 10,000 feet plus above sea level probably didn't do any harm to my hemoglobin either.So, as a result, I felt conditioned but lacking a bit strength-wise. Whenever the run got iffy I just slowed the pace down a bit. Overall a good effort and a satisfying long run to my old route around to Playa La Herradura and a quick visit to La Bruja. Gonna get a big plate of chifa in me and crash this afternoon.