Blog

Ups and Downs and a Decision

Emotionally, it’s been a roller coaster of a week, with a low point on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning when I just about talked myself into giving up on even planning on running the Northface 50. Physically, though, it’s been pretty much all good. I’ll take it.

The Northface 50 is sold out. On Tuesday night I just happened to check the list of registered runners and my name wasn’t on it. I sent the race organizers an email to see what the deal was and told them that if I didn’t get my application in before it sold out that was OK because I’d been having some injuries. They got back to me Wednesday morning and said that they had my application but hadn’t added me to the list yet; I could choose whether or not to do it and if I chose to bail, they’d tear up my check. Very very cool of them, but it did mean that I had to decide and I was sorta hoping that the decision would be made for me! I spent an agonizing morning, talking to Elizabeth, some friends, Coach John and myself. On the one hand, not doing the race would take the pressure off and I could spend the next four to eight weeks healing and recovering and getting ready for 2010. On the other hand, I want to do the race, I have a great fitness base and my achilles has been progressing very nicely. My “advisers” were split, but nearly everyone (sorry, Rom) thought there was no reason for me to throw in the towel just yet.

In the end, after many hours of back and forth, I decided to give it a shot. Giving up now doesn’t make sense. What do I have to lose? The registration fee, yes. But I can live with that. Other than that, nothing really. My true recovery and healing time for 2010 will start on December 6. I promised Elizabeth that if at any point during training or the race, my achilles became painful, I would stop running, evaluate the situation, and call it quits if need be.

So, I now have 22 days. I’ll get in a reasonable number of miles each week, giving myself good recovery between runs. I’ll try to do some longer-ish runs, but it’s unlikely I’ll do anything longer than 10-12 miles. My goal will be to maintain some of my fitness (but not even think about gaining back what I lost over the last three weeks) and get to the starting line as healthy and uninjured as possible.

This morning I had my third pain-free and tightness-generally-free run of the week. It was just 5.6 flat, easy miles, but it felt good. I’ll get back out on Sunday before watching the Chargers make mincemeat of the Eagles. Assuming I can make it through the next 22 days, I know I won’t be getting, or even looking for, a PR at the race, but I will be in the Marin Headlands on December 5 to give finishing a shot!

On another note, blogging friend Jason from “Addicted to Pavement” has recently started a new blog, with a new goal. Check out TriTheDream. His “dream” – to compete in the 2011 Ironman World Championships – is a worthy one. One of the best things about his blog though is that it’s not just about his dream, he’s writing to get all his readers to think about their own dreams, whether or not they involve 140.6 miles of pain. And not for nothing, it’s one of the nicest looking sports blogs around!

Swim – November 10
Distance: 3,062 yards (2,800 meters)
Time: 1:00

Elliptical – November 10
Time: 1:00

Strength – November 10

Run – November 11
Distance: 5 miles
Time: 43 minutes
Course: West Hollywood, Beverly Hills
Conditions: Partly sunny, mid-60’s
Notes: Stopped every 10 minutes to stretch calves

Swim – November 12
Distance: 3,609 yards (3,300 meters)
Time: 1:11

Run – November 13
Distance: 5.6 miles
Time: 46 minutes
Course: West Hollywood, Beverly Hills
Conditions: Sunny, low-60’s
Notes: Stopped every 10 minutes to stretch calves