Now that it is a new year I can turn a new page and forget about what 2013 was or could have been. It was not a bad season of running but there was potential for so much more. I closed out 2012 with a 2:54 marathon in Philadelphia, a race where I faded in the second half and was hoping for something closer to 2:50. This was still encouraging leading into 2013. I trained hard all winter and into the spring for the Boston Marathon. The year before, I had dropped out due to the heat and still had some hard feelings toward the race. In 2013, I entered having run some of the fastest workouts of my life. Despite how well training had been going, I struggled from the start at Boston. I believed a low 2:40 time was within reach, but I began fading before the halfway point. I finished in a painful 2:56 but time ended up being irrelevant on the day. In the aftermath of running a poor race performance, I jumped back into training a little too quickly. I ramped my mileage back up with the thought that I did not train hard enough to run well. This was a big mistake that plagued the rest of 2013 for me. I let one race get to me and set off to get faster. This was a fine goal but I developed a hamstring injury in just a few days after Boston. Instead of taking some time off to address this injury and the stresses placed on my body due to the entire build-up, I decided to train through it. Some days I felt good. Some days I felt terrible. My workouts and races ranged based on the level of pain I was experiencing that particular day. I ran a 1:19 half marathon but this could have been faster if I was not running through an injury. I ran a 16:37 5k but again not on fresh legs. I also ran 17:52 for 5k (before Boston I did a 3 x 5k workout in 18:00 each). There were ups and downs but I maintained the thought that this injury would simply go away. I started to feel better in August and September as my mileage increased in preparation for the Chicago Marathon. I decided to tune-up at the end of September because I still do not think I can run a sub-2:40 marathon time without running a faster half. I was running within a 90 mile week and did not taper for the race. This is not how to run a PR. I went out in what I thought was a fairly conservative pace, clicking of miles in the 5:50s. I fell off pace a little before 10 miles and then got a stomach cramp that forced me to stop for 30-45 seconds. I recovered and ran a couple of decent miles to finish the race but I ended up over 1:20 in 1:21. This did not help my confidence grow for Chicago. Distance runners need to have short term memory loss and I quickly forgot about this race and went back into training for the next few weeks before the race. The only problem, however, was that my hamstring injury got much worse after the race. I started going to PT the week before Chicago and was advised not to run. I pushed this thought away, got treatment for a week, and felt good enough to run. I went out in 1:20-high in Chicago and felt much more comfortable then my 1:21 half just a few weeks before. I struggled after the 30k mark and did not have the endurance to keep up that pace. The stretch from 35-40k hit me the hardest as I dropped some pretty slow miles (in the 6:50 range) from where I had been running. I finished in 2:47 but knew it could have been closer to the low-2:40s but it was still a PR and I was content. After the marathon, my plan was simple. Rest. Recover. Start with some speed work before Boston training.
Things did not go according to plan. PT was not helping my hamstring through the end of October and I got shutdown for the month of November. I am used to logging 80-100 miles a week and totaling about 300-400 miles a month. I had so much free time and knew I was losing fitness by the day. I tried to keep my weight in check, knowing I could not eat the usual amount that marathon training allows. It was a difficult time. I started to feel better in December and began to run again. I knew I would have to cut any type of indoor/speed season short because of the time off. I started to feel good again and then as I was running one day I felt a sharp pain in my left knee. It was too painful to run through. This forced me to take another month completely off. I have missed serious training from October to January. It has been very difficult on me, as running helps me deal with stress and generally keeps me relaxed. I am becoming increasingly nervous as Boston is quickly approaching and I have not done any real training. At this point, things are looking better. The knee has healed but I still feel minor hamstring pain. I am healthy enough to be running but need to be careful as to how quickly I come back. I ran 40 miles last week and am targeting 50 this week. I have a long way to go but I am determined to get back into shape for Boston. 2014 has not started off ideally but my immediate goals for winter/spring are as follows:
2014 Goals:
1. Stay healthy and run.
2. Run 1:17 or better in the half marathon.
3. Run a sub-2:40 marathon at Boston.
My 2014 goals are really in reverse order by importance but it is important to write them this way. I have a new perspective heading into 2014: Running injured sucks and I do not do well with time off. I also know I need to run a fast half marathon. I feel 1:17 was in my reach last spring and I intend to smash this time goal. A 2:40 marathon has also been on my radar since last spring but my confidence has not been there. I have not convinced myself a sub-2:40 time is achievable until now. I will run sub-2:40 at Boston this spring. It is time to be confident and go after big goals instead of training as hard as I can and then going to the startline nervous as can be. Races should be the easy (and fun) part. It does not matter that I missed time due to injury. It does not matter that I did not work on my speed in the winter. It does not matter that I am a 1:19 half marathoner and 2:47 marathoner. This is all going to change in 2014. I am done writing blog posts about how well training is going and how poorly I am racing. My 2014 focus is going to be on the racing. It is time to be confident and get after it in training (with being smart about it).
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