Warning – there’s a lot of hubris baked into that title.
Last week I was almost perfect about my workouts. I swam Monday, Wednesday and Friday and I ran Yassos on Tuesday, tempo on Thursday and 15 miles on Saturday. It went okay. Not brilliant, but okay. The not quite perfect part is that Tuesday I was supposed to run 8 repeats and I only ran 7. On Saturday I was going to toss in an extra 1/2 mile to make up for it but I was hurting so I skipped it.
When I got home Saturday I plugged the numbers into Breaking the Tape and came up a little short for the parrot predictor to do its thing so I made up an extra, slow mile to see what I could see. What I saw was a projected marathon time of 4:36 – which is what I wanted to see. And therein lies the problem.
My target for this marathon is just sub 5 hours. I’ve been training well and consistently (except for graduation week) and it is paying off. Now what were my secret ambitions are bubbling up to become conscience ambitions and the ambition is to go a 4:40 and I need to stop that. I need to focus on sub 5 hours and plan for that because 4:40 is too fast for me. I know that because after Saturday’s okay run I am having problems with my left side. My left glute is sore and I have a shin splint on my left leg. My left knee was hurting yesterday*. Not good, not good. Every time I get overly ambitious I start to show signs of wear and tear that could nuke the whole deal.
Tomorrow is a swim day and Tuesday is supposed to be 10 Yassos. I’m not doing that, though. I may or may not swim tomorrow (it’s awfully late…) but if I don’t swim I will bike. Tuesday I will do something but it won’t be 10 Yassos and it won’t be a 4th of July 10K in under 60 minutes. I have to take it easy so I can keep on going and I have to keep going to hit a just sub 5 hour marathon. Must.stay.on.track!
Thanks to people who suggested Hammer Gel. Much better than Gu. I tried 1 raspberry and 1 apple cinnamon and they both went down well.
Happy 4th!
*what could be responsible for al of these problems on my left side? Stride? uneven legs? What the hell!!??
21st-century-mom.com 
I know when I was having left hip pain, I noticed it improved as I ran on the other side of the road. I was always running on cambered roads facing traffic. I switched it for a few runs, and I felt great. I also did give it a rest for a few days…complete rest. It made all the difference. Maybe you need new shoes, too? My hip hasn’t flared up since I bought my new ones.
Great job on the training. I know what you mean about not being too ambitious with predictions, but it sounds like you are on the mark.Your left side–you didn’t sit somewhere for a long time with one leg crossed did you? I get aches and pains now from even that!
It actually sounds like you are right on track. You seem to be keeping everything in check and paying close attention to your training. You’ll do great!
Left side…humm…could it be that you are only running in the politically correct direction on the track?! (I limit my on “track” speed workouts for this very reason) Try warming up and cooling down in the other direction. This is usually forgiven if you run on the outside edge. Otherwise, if you have a garmin, you could do some yassos by programming it signal the intervals and rest periods. (email me if you need help with this)
You’re doing fantastic! As for the left side…does ice help it? How about Osteo-Biflex? It lubricates the joint and muscle tissues.
Sounds like you need to have your left side looked at. Even a chiropractor may help. I have problems with my hips tilting uneven. I agree with the other that may be time for new shoes.
Sounds like you need to have your left side looked at. Even a chiropractor may help. I have problems with my hips tilting uneven. I agree with the other that may be time for new shoes.
Lisa’s suggestion is a sound one. Check the angle of the roads on which you are running and/or switch directions on the track. To take a look at your stride you could have someone video you to see if you are the same on both feet, or run a gravel/sand trail and listen to your own footfalls. Are they exactly the same?Preserve your health, of course, but don’t sell youself short. I dropped quite unexpectedly to a sub 4 hour marathon, and you’re going to feel great after your taper.
Oh so many things can be causing pain. where do you even start? Are you stretching correctly, and enough? Especially after those long runs? It might be good to have a RUNNING chiro look at you. It’s so hard to narrow these things down.But, WOW, you are doing fantastic!! Despite the pain! And you might just surprise yourself. But you are wise to be cautious so close.And if one more repeat would have made your week perfect, I salute YOU!!(Btw, I clicked on the parrot predictor and I can’t find the predictor part!)
From my experience:- the Parrot Predictor is too ambitious- running the other way on the track is a good idea- my hip problems could have been fixed with more and better hamstring stretches (according to Sherlene LMT)