Long time no update! Sorry about that. I did my peak 20 mile run a week ago. Before I started I texted my girlfriend to let her know where I planned to run and how long I anticipated it would take in case I got hurt or kidnapped or something. The problem was that I had originally planned to do 18 miles but about 4 miles in I decided to just do the whole 20 and be done with it. Unfortunately the run didn't go that well. My hip flexor/groin got really sore and I ended up having to walk more than I would have liked and also caused my running pace to severely decrease. This ended up causing my run to last over an hour longer than I planned and created on worried girlfriend. The whole thing reminded me of this blog and my sudden lack of posts. I hope ya'll weren't worried!
Training hasn't been going great. I believe my last post was about a knee injury I sustained. It wasn't really a running injury but it did prevent me from doing much running for about a month. During that downtime I did a lot of research on how to safely start running again and also how to run without injury. That's how I discovered ChiRunning. I'm not going to go in to specifics but it promises injury free, effortless running by improving your form. I've been practicing it for a little over a month and I think it is making a difference. I learned that my form (while not terrible) wasn't the greatest. I was a heel striker, especially when I increased my speed, and that was causing a lot of shock on my knees. ChiRunning, along with other running forms, focuses more on a midfoot strike which is more efficient and less jarring of an impact. This midfoot strike led me to my first new piece of gear. My Newton Distance running shoe! They are designed for midfoot strikes. At first I wasn't totally sold on them because I was still landing too much on the heel. After my first 2 mile run I was shocked at how much wear was on the heel. These shoes are not designed to be run in like that so the heels are made of soft foam that really can't take much friction. I worked on increasing my cadence and posture and now I am more of a midfoot striker and am really loving the shoes. That style of running uses muscles that I'm not used to in the calf area so there is a long adjustment period before one is able to switch to using them exclusively so unfortunately I will not be able to wear them at the marathon.
My next piece of gear is the new Columbia Omi-freeze Zero line of sports clothing. It supposedly has a special material that cools you down more as you sweat. I bought a shirt and hat made of the stuff. I didn't really notice it cooling me down any better, but I do like the shirt. It is constructed well and the material is nice and light.
I also bought a pair of Injinji toe socks because I heard they are great for preventing blisters. I have had a very painful blister on my left foot that has really being ruining my form so I've been trying everything to help with that. The Injinji toe socks are great for preventing blisters, I think, but the one that was already formed still felt like shit. I have a theory that that blister is what caused the groin pain in my long run. I think I was compensating for the pain and ended up using the groin muscles more than I should. The groin pain led me to my next piece of equipment...
...The Stick! I did some research in to how to deal with sore muscles and came across The Stick. It's a similar idea to a foam roller, I think. You basically roll it over all the muscles areas on your body to give yourself a nice massage. I discovered by using it that I had a knot in my shoulder, back and a huge one in my right calf. Oh boy did that calf one not feel good to roll out! Yeoowwwch! I can't believe I was running on that thing and didn't know it. I'm looking forward to seeing my my running improves as a result of using the stick. I guessing my recovery time will.
That's about all for this post. Less than two weeks until the big day! I'm getting pretty nervous...
