Since returning from my fractures I’ve been purposely taking it easy when it comes to total mileage and long runs. After 3 months of easing myself back in I think I’m finally ready to start upping the mileage. My legs feel strong and I don’t have any tenderness to palpation or percussion along my tibias. I have some soreness lateral of my tibia, but I think that is probably just the re-building of my anterior tibialis muscle. I’m still limiting myself to 4 run days per week and I chose my marathon training plan specifically because of its emphasis on running injury free.
I still have a few shorter races this summer (five races between 5K and 5.4 miles), but I’m now moving into the second phase of my season. I have four long races (2 half marys, a 14 mile trail race, and my full marathon in October).
My first long race is the 22nd Annual Mt. Toby Trail Run. This 14-mile race is on a mixture of jeep roads and trails that climb up to the summit of Mt. Toby and then back down again - seven miles up, seven miles down. The total climb is 1900 feet. My quads ache just thinking about it.
My second long race is a complete opposite of the first. It’s the Covered Bridges Half Marathon in Swanzey, NH. For me the allure was the promise of a brisk, early Fall morning run, on a scenic course boasting four covered bridges. Many many people posted great reviews for this race. I plotted out the course and it appears to be super-flat.
Covered Bridges Half Marathon Course
I used this information to my advantage and cajoled one of my friends into making this her first 13.1 ever. I can’t wait to see the look on her face when she finishes.
My third long race is two weeks later in the Berkshires. That would be the Berkshire MOUNTAINS. This is Curly’s Trail Half Marathon, and it promises to be another quad buster. I’m not sure of the total vertical for this race, but there is one climb between mile 1.5 and 2.5 that looks to be 900 feet of straight up all by itself. This race can be either a full or a half. I’m doing the half. Last year’s winner of the full took 3:47 to finish. When the WINNING time is almost 4 hours you know it’s gonna be a hard one.
My fourth long race is the Cape Cod Marathon in the end of October. This has been my goal for the year. I wanted to go from a hobbled man with bilateral tibial stress fractures in January to a strong-legged marathoner by October. My best friend and his wife are also running this race, but we are not running together. This race is about mental toughness for me. The course is largely devoid of spectators, except in a handful of spots, and being run almost entirely along the water, the wind will certainly be an adversary at times. I’m looking forward to the challenge.
My marathon is my main goal. The first three long races all fall on a Sunday, which is my long slow distance (LSD) training day. My intent is to not get caught up in the race day energy and to truly treat them as training runs. I would hate nothing more than to push myself too hard in the half marys and injure myself again before the full marathon.
Anyway, when people ask me “What’s new?” this is what I talk about, because this is what I’m excited about. Wish me luck and check back to see how my training is going. Better still, subscribe. I usually post 3-4 times per week.
What readers are saying: