Taper week

Well it’s taper week for next Sunday’s LA Marathon, the past week has been very low key with only one run; not quite what was planned but after tweaking my knee last Monday I wanted to take things easier. I managed a nine miler on Thursday which felt ok at the time but subsequently my knee was still twitchy. Over the weekend my wife and I headed off for a relaxing spa weekend at La Costa spa just north of San Diego, this year is our 10 year wedding anniversary and although we are a little early we thought we would take advantage of my in laws, who are visiting at the moment, and leave the boys with them. I had a great massage which freed off a lot of tension and so far things are feeling pretty good, of course two uninterrupted nights sleep didn’t go amiss! I intend to cut right back on the mileage this week, I ran the PCTR 50k without having run anything the preceding two weeks so I am not too phased by this. I am off to my ever friendly chiropractor later this week and my FIL who is a retired osteopath will give my legs a massage on Friday so I should be in as good a shape as possible. All things considered the marathon is really a training run and although I have a couple of goals in mind I am not going out all guns blazing; I am looking to finish sub 4:00.

Following up the trip to the movies last week I was inspired to order from Amazon; The Runner, the story of David Horton’s record breaking 66 day run of the 2700 mile long Pacific Coast Trail which runs from Mexico to Canada, it by the same film maker JB Benna so it should be good, I’ll let you know once I have watched it.

The hunt for shoes has drawn to a close, at least for now, the last pair I tried; Vasque Mercurys were too tight, so for now out of sheer boredom and the advice I received via The List from people who have completed LD, that the trail version of Asics' 2120s or 2130s as they will be now will be more than robust enough for the run. I expect to have to revisit this later but for now it’s a suitable solution.

On a final note I signed up for The Great Race half, it’s two weeks before LD and will be a good run to end the training phase and start the taper.

An early nine and a late night...

I managed an early 9 miles Thursday morning care of the baby who decided that 4am was a good time for an early breakfast. By the time I had done the necessary I figured I might was well lace’m up and head out the door for a quick run, nothing too fast and nothing too far. The sky was grey and flat and the sunrise was unforgettably forgettable. I notched off the first 8 miles at a 8:39 pace and slowed down to cool down for the last mile with the customary walk up the hill to finish. Lots of stretching and both quads felt pretty good.

Thursday night, my wife and I headed off to see the premiere of Dean Karnazes' film; UltraMarathonMan. It was pouring with rain and LA traffic being what it is we arrived 45 minutes late! However all was not lost and it looked like we only missed the first 10-15 minutes or so as he was only (only ha!) on marathon #5. The movie was, I have to say great, and putting aside all the controversy over the man, the accomplishment in itself is pretty staggering. The scenery was beautiful from the rain soaked streets of Atlanta to the trails of North Dakota to the skyscrapers of Manhattan. The cinematography was inspired with the cameramen running alongside, behind and in front to capture the images and conversations as the runners ran and the soundtrack drew you into the mood. The message is strong, and without getting into it, but to note in these days of obesity, diabetes and heart disease getting out there and running a mile, ten, 26.2 or more can and will make a difference not only to yourself but as an inspiration to others. The film unfortunately does not have a distributor so who knows when it will be on the silver screen near you, but when comes, go!

This is the trailer.

Over listening!

So my last post ended having had a good week...not so this. Presidents Day I had some extra time so I thought I would take my bike for a spin on the roads and enjoy the daylight, nothing grand a quick 10 mile loop around the local roads, it was all over an done with in 40 minutes. I got back, stretched had a quick shower and carried on with the day, it wasn’t till later that evening that both of my quads and one knee started playing up. The quads were, well not painful, but enough of a niggle to warrant icing several times, and my knee seemed to be more to do with the connective tissue so that also got iced. I’ve taken Tuesday and Wednesday off and we’ll see what happens on Thursday.

I find, after my injuries from last year, that I am often “over listening” to my body for odd signs of something amiss and sometimes I hear something that's just not there. It is, of course, best when there is no noise, well silence is golden!