Back on the road again

Yesterday morning, I finally got back on the road (sort of). I ran for the first time (test run) since my fall on ice during that long run couple weekends ago. The test run was just a slow, conservative one mile (at ~14 min/mi). The left leg that took the brunt of the fall still felt a bit sore, but there was no pain while running. This morning's run was four miles (at ~12 min/mi), with 0.15 mi walk after each mile. So far so good! I'm hoping that I'll be able to gradually ramp up the miles over the next two weeks to run a satisfactory Shamrock Marathon. I'm quite relieved now; though, two nights ago, I was anticipating the morning test run with trepidation. As I was nervously sitting there, browsing my Facebook news feed, I came across a Runner's World article on restarting running after a layoff. How timely! In the article, Daniel Lieberman of Harvard was quoted on how it takes time to start running again but also how adaptive is the human body. Coincidentally, I've just started reading Lieberman's new book (2013), The Story of the Human Body, which includes quite a few pages on barefoot running (should be no surprise to those familiar with Lieberman's work). It's uncanny sometimes how things converge! Anyway, back to back on the road.

It was two weeks of frustration and worsening withdrawal symptoms! I kept replaying that run with the fall on ice: should have's, would have's, could have's. My training for Shamrock had been going really well, especially with my modifications to the long run, based on lessons learned from Wineglass (Oct. 2013). I'd felt confident enough to be thinking of a BQ attempt at Shamrock. But, now, with the two-week taper starting next week, missing the last two hard training weeks and last three long runs (20, 21, and 21 mi), and consequently losing some of the fitness in recovering from the fall, all is lost! So I thought to myself. At the same time, I also kept reminding myself of Scott Jurek's four-step checklist, which he described in his book, Eat & Run, for what to do when bad things happen in a race (in life, too!). Much easier said (or written) than done! Still, I finally was able to move on and reassess my goals for Shamrock and to realign them with reality and with the main overall goal of qualifying for Boston. I was thinking, now that BQ (3:55) is no longer realistic, given the disruption to the training, perhaps I'll just conservatively run Shamrock as a long long run, to ensure I'll be in shape to pick up with Week 9 of the next 16-week training program for a BQ attempt at the Pocono Marathon (end of May). But, then, at the monthly Coach's Chat of the RYBQ online community, the suggestion from the coaches was that, factoring in the loss of fitness from the two-week layoff, a 4:05 still might be feasible. So, short of a 3:55, I have the following options for Shamrock:

- Run it as a long long run and don't worry about time--don't even carry a GPS watch!
- Go for 4:22, my time for the 2013 Rock 'n' Roll USA and my "modern" PR. Given that I almost ran this time at last October's MCM, two weeks after having run Wineglass, I feel pretty confident, even with the layoff.
- Go for 4:14, my time for the Ithaca Marathon back in 1982 and my all-time PR. That was my first marathon, and I ran it essentially without any training (didn't know any better!) and with one long run (all of 13 miles) before the race. Given my coaches' assessment of the loss of fitness from the layoff being better than what I'd thought, the 8-minute drop between the two PRs seems doable.
- Go for 4:05. I would have to work for this. I'd need to basically do my modified long run, which I'd done for up to 19 miles (before the fall on ice), but do it for 26.2 mi. I'd need to run the first half at 9:25 (BQ goal marathon pace + 30 sec) and the second half at goal marathon pace (8:58). Of course, for a race, I'd actually run it at a pace somewhere between 9:25 and 8:58, with a slightly negative split, if possible.

Which option will depend on how well the next two weeks go, how I feel at the start of the race, and how I feel during the race. The uncertainty caused by that fall two weeks ago will make for an interesting run!

And, if I'm feeling really, really, really good--and lucky!--that day ... :)