I Run

The pain in my chest has subsided enough for me to pick up my running schedule, but at a somewhat slower pace. On Tuesday I ran 7.5 miles without the accompanying VO2max speed work. Breathing very deeply was still problematic, but I managed to adapt with more frequent shallow breaths. The 11 mile run on Wednesday was even more tolerable, and strangely it seemed that the quick breaths gave my legs more energy. Or maybe a week off has energized them. My pace was not stellar, but that's OK. I'm not going to push it until I feel 100% better. The schedule calls for a race on Saturday, but I think I'll bag that since I'm going to do a marathon pace long run on Sunday (which was schedule for last Sunday, but missed).

If I'd run 8 miles on Tuesday, I would have thought, "This is going to be a tough week." If I'd run 9 miles on Wednesday, I would have also run five 1000m VO2max sessions. I rested Thursday like my schedule said, so that's good. If I'd run 12 miles on Friday, I probably would have run them a little too fast. If I'd run 5 miles yesterday, they would have been done at recovery pace because Friday's run would have been tough. If I'd run 17 miles today, 14 of those miles would have been run at marathon pace. But as it is I didn't run at all this week. Nothing. Zero miles. I didn't run because even though my pleurisy seems to be going away, it still hurts to breath deeply. And to run is to breath deeply. I can't even sneeze because I have to take in too much air, which causes my lung to touch my chest wall. So I suppress the sneeze and my nose runs. This sucks.

But I'm not sure my lungs want to go along for the ride. This pleurisy thing is certainly subsiding, but I'm afraid my aerobic fitness has suffered a bit. I may try a run later today. I don't know if I'll be able to do the scheduled 12 miles, but we'll see...

On Sunday, after doing that hard 10K and spending all day Saturday on my feet planting Christmas trees, I ran 17 miles. My pace was deplorably slow, around 9:45. I deliberately kept it down for a couple of reasons: 1) I was tired (so I really was listening to my body), and 2) I was running in my brand new Asics GT-2110s. I did not want to injure myself after all the time and effort I've put into my training. After about 13 miles I took some water and Gu and finished the final 4 miles pretty strongly. But later that evening I started to feel a weird ache in my lower chest. I figured it was nothing, went to bed, then to work on Monday. But Monday night the pain was still there and I had a really hard time sleeping. So I called a doctor and she figured I might have pleurisy, which is an inflammation of the membrane around the lungs. Yikes. So I took Tuesday as a sick day and went to see my doctor. He didn't seem too concerned and said it should go away in a couple of days or so. I'm taking some NSAIDs to dull the pain, but I'm more or less sidelined until this thing spends itself out. Breathing in deeply is not nice, and running I think would just make it all the more painful. Maybe this is my body's way of telling me to slow down.

I ran a 10K at Bradley International this morning. It was cool and a bit foggy, pretty good conditions for a run. The course was flat to rolling, so I figured I'd definitely get a PR since my only other 10K has been in Shelburne Falls. From the start, though, my legs were tired and I pretty much sucked wind (and jet fuel exhaust) the whole way. I came in 15th overall out of 71, 4th in my age group. My time was 44:11 (7:08 pace), which beats my previous 10K time by almost 5 minutes. Based on my half marathon time and pace (7:13), I should have run this 10K faster (closer to 42:00). But I guess my body is pretty taxed from the training.

Pfitz called for a 55 mile week, and I think I added close to another 5. My long run yesterday should have been 20, but it turned out to be 21.5. My 12 milers on Wed. and Fri. were more like 12.5 to 13. My 5 mile recovery on Sat. was more like 6. I figure if I feel good, then go for it. I don't feel I'm overdoing it, and I try to keep a slower pace when my legs are complaining. But even yesterday after running 35+ miles, I was able to run UP Sweet Pond Rd. for nearly 3 miles, then complete the 21.5 in 3:10:00, which works out to be about 8:48 pace. This week I have slightly less mileage, and perhaps a 10k race on Saturday morning at Bradley International Airport.

Since I run better in the evenings, the extra amount of light at that end of the day should help me get in some of those longer mid-week runs. I might even be able to drive home and run there instead of in Chester. Yesterday's 14-miler was a bit tough for some reason. Could be the two significant hills, or maybe it was the 8 miles with 8x100m strides I did on Saturday. Now comes a high mileage week, with two 12 milers scheduled on Wednesday and Friday, plus a 20 miler on Sunday. Yawn...I just hope I regain that hour of sleep I lost.