At various times throughout my run on Tuesday, I experienced pain in my left knee (it seems to start at between 20 and 25 minutes into most runs) and, at the end of my run, pain in my right shin. These have been my weak spots. I'm trying to target them in my strength-training routine, but I'm not sure when and how often I should do this. I don't want to aggravate them more than they already are. My run on Wednesday -- albeit shorter by a few miles -- was more comfortable, as I didn't experience any of these pains.
As a result, I was in a great mood early this evening--and still am. It's amazing how the quality of a run, not only the run itself, can affect your mood. I consider this to be a good thing, even though not every run is good; therefore, a bad mood. When you're training for a race, as I am, currently, and have a bad run, I think it affects your mood much more than, say, if you were just running for the sake of exercising and did the same. When you're training for a race, every run serves a special purpose, so when you bomb it, for whatever reason, it weighs on your mood much more. Certainly, this is a big part of training and the challenges that come with it. Perhaps it helps hone mental toughness and prepare you for the big day.
Not only am I tacking on about one mile per week to my long run, but to most of my runs during the week. I need to increase my carbohydrate intake. I found this out the hard way on Tuesday and Wednesday of last week when I felt extremely tired. I had been maintaining my normal diet while increasing mileage. Apparently, that spells disaster. I felt much more energized yesterday and today, and I think this has to do with the fact that I've increased my carbohydrate intake. I started adding more good breads and pastas to my diet and have substituted black beans for feta cheese in my salads (per Dan's suggestion -- thanks, Dan, I owe you one), among other minor tweaks.
I think my success thus far can be chalked up to the fact that I'm getting adequate sleep, adequately stretching before and after runs, icing sore tendons and muscles after runs and even before bedtime, and strengthening my upper-body and core muscles. I'll continue to work on my diet and consuming more calories, in addition to strenthening my lower-body via single leg exercises.
One last thought: My marathon training plan calls for XTing on Mondays. I haven't done much XTing in the first 5 weeks of this plan. I think this could catch up with me if I don't substitute some strengthening of my upper-body and core muscles with cycling and/or swimming, the two best XTing activities for running. I need to get on a bike--and soon.
Ryan Lamanna -- A student of the sport of Running, but no less a runner...
1 comment:
Ryan, congratulations on being the author of the longest post to date.
1.) Did you read Geoff's comments about aches and pains? You really should find some non-paved surfaces to run on.
2.)I also wonder about the optimal time to incorporate strength training. If anyone has any good articles or info on that, please post.
3.) See McMillan's nutrition calculator at the site Geoff posted. He breaks down what ratios of carbs, protein, fats to eat. If you think you are eating too little, try writing down everything you eat and find out. According to McMillan you probably need 2000. I find my activity level has more influence on how tired I feel than how much I eat or sleep. For example, this week and last I've been running relatively low mileage and have gotten out of my daily bike routine, and have been eating and sleeping plenty, but felt more tired than I have in months. Gotta keep the endorphins flowing.
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