I hope you're all enjoying the more Fall like temperatures that have finally arrived. It is nice to be able to run in the cooler temps and enjoy the changing of the leaves. I've had an extremely low mileage month with one exception...a 20 Miler on September 13. Since then, I have wanted to do some more shorter runs, but have been sidelined with a nagging ankle injury after my two latest long runs. Since the 20 miler I have run only 4 times, the longest was a 7 miler this past Tuesday, (see map below from Garmin download), but ever since the ankle pain is persisting, so I will continue to take it easy for at least another week.
After that, I hope to start up again slow and with low mileage, but want to save myself for the marathon on Nov. 3. And I must say, the marathon is still "up in the air" at this point. I really need to be feeling much better by race-day to attempt such a distance. A couple of days ago, I went to down to Indy and drove the course (or most of it) to check out the surfaces I would be running on. Wow, was I disappointed! While there were a few smoother than expected areas, the vast majority of the pavement would be considered rough cracked asphault (some of it was worse than what I ran on in Honduras last year!) A particularly annoying section will be the mile or so on 38th Street which is rough slotted concrete. Oh well, the marathon is still 5 weeks away, so I have lots of time to psych myself up and pray for a nice dry Saturday! Please God, it HAS to be dry or there will be no way to survive these rough surfaces if they are at all wet! Also looking for the ankle to start feeling a lot better with additional rest days and not TOO much atrophy with all the low mileage to come in October. The theory will be no more long runs, i.e. -- chances to get hurt -- between now and race-day. At this point in my training and ramp up, if I get hurt now, it needs to be DURING the race, and not before. Looking forward to a restful month of October...and maybe some Indy street repair!!
After that, I hope to start up again slow and with low mileage, but want to save myself for the marathon on Nov. 3. And I must say, the marathon is still "up in the air" at this point. I really need to be feeling much better by race-day to attempt such a distance. A couple of days ago, I went to down to Indy and drove the course (or most of it) to check out the surfaces I would be running on. Wow, was I disappointed! While there were a few smoother than expected areas, the vast majority of the pavement would be considered rough cracked asphault (some of it was worse than what I ran on in Honduras last year!) A particularly annoying section will be the mile or so on 38th Street which is rough slotted concrete. Oh well, the marathon is still 5 weeks away, so I have lots of time to psych myself up and pray for a nice dry Saturday! Please God, it HAS to be dry or there will be no way to survive these rough surfaces if they are at all wet! Also looking for the ankle to start feeling a lot better with additional rest days and not TOO much atrophy with all the low mileage to come in October. The theory will be no more long runs, i.e. -- chances to get hurt -- between now and race-day. At this point in my training and ramp up, if I get hurt now, it needs to be DURING the race, and not before. Looking forward to a restful month of October...and maybe some Indy street repair!!Be Careful Out There!
Barefoot Dan
September Mileage -- Week 1 = 8, Week 2 = 24, Week 3 = 6, Week 4 = 7
