Sports Hernia or not... Needles or Knives.

Quick update here...

I had my doctor's appointment, MRI and brief follow up. The MRI showed an "irritated pelvis". Something tells me that's actually a proper medical term, but it maybe the kind way of saying that I might-could-possibly-not have a Sports Hernia. I have all the symptoms though, including some material inflammation around the attachments and bone, but no breaks and no major tears.

In other words, I have to completely rest and if I'm not better by mid-February, then I'll likely go under the knife to get treated as sports hernia. I'd have some nasty, non biodegradable mesh shoved into me to help reinforce the soft tissues that attach to the pelvis. There is no guarantee that it fixes the problem and it likely comes with side effects down the road. Fantastic! Well clearly I'm going to avoid this if at all possible.

In the mean time, in order to fix my Sports Hernia AKA so-called Irritated Pelvis, I'm into my third week of seeing a PT twice a week. The treatment has been dry needling. It's a rather intense form of acupuncture. It is one needle at a time for about 15 seconds each. Maybe a total of 10-15 needles through out my adductors, abs, hip flexors, and glute. While the needles are in, they're stimulated (ie, jabbed, stabbed, flicked, tweaked, electrified, whatever) in order to get the targeted muscles "reset". Actually this process is fucking excruciating, but a few needles are far better than a knife! The hope is this forced resetting leads the muscles to chill out and allow for this irritation to calm down.

I've also been getting a deep tissue massage every week or two. Otherwise, complete physical shut down has been ordered. I can't do anything right now. Over loading the core muscles would likely impede the healing process. And unfortunately, that makes sense as you're almost always using your core muscles. I need to limit that load. This is probably the most frustrating of all, because I'm dying to at least do something in order to not fall completely apart.... my endurance is gone, my muscles are withering away, and I've gained about 10-12 lbs since the Chicago Marathon.

It's a long, slow, and mentally agonizing process. I'm supposed to be fit and training for the Boston Marathon at the moment, and instead I'm on the brink of pulling that plug. My only glimmer of hope is that as of today, for the first time in over two months, I officially recognized that I'm feeling just a little better than I was just a few days ago. I haven't seen that up until today.

They say it's always darkest before dawn. I just maybe have passed that darkest moment. Only time will tell.

2634 or 3146? Doesn't matter, still busted.

In 2013, I hit 2,634 miles.

That was a PR in terms of total miles in any given calendar year. However, I only ran about 10 months in 2013. I've hardly gone a step since the NYC marathon in early November, which was now two months ago.

If I look back to the stretch between training from Philly '12 through Chicago '13, I peaked out at 3,146 miles in a 12 month period. I had a span of nearly 6 months where on any given day my trailing 12 month mileage was over 2,900. Now that was running!

Of course, look where I am now. Got me all banged up. All because some tiny muscle balled itself up and never let go. My problem started in my adductor and has spread like a cancer to my hip flexor and lower abdomen. Obviously training on it didn't help, and my final marathon only made it that much worse. I found my limit and exceeded it. It's probably somewhere between the numbers 2,900 and 3,146.

I'm not trying to be a drama queen and chalk my career up just yet. Don't worry. But whatever is going on with me is not pleasant. As it stands now, this is gonna my biggest break from running in over 10 years. Each passing day is like a new fat-boy PR. At least when I had my stress fracture, I knew what was wrong and how long it would take to heal. This is totally different. Whether it is sports hernia or some soft tissue tear... Two months later and any small workout or run I attempt puts me back to square one. My own self PT has not helped. It just won't heal.

Anyway, I drew a line on January 1st, and am now going to see a doctor and PT. I have a Dr appointment tomorrow with some guy that I'm sure wants to cut me for a lot of money. I've already been screened by a PT... he's given me some comfort that it might not be all that bad. He's my hope. I've also had some massages, which have offered some temporary relief.

SO, 2014 here we are! My primo condition is pretty much gone. Yet I am signed up for the Boston and Berlin Marathons. Boston is most likely a DNS at this point... a miracle would be needed to make that happen. Hopefully I'll find out in the next week if miracles are possible.

NYC Marathon - The Stories!!

The NYC Marathon wasn't what I had hoped for months before, but it wound up to be a really fun race and experience.

It really was pretty amazing story that involved being honest, cheating the system, the military, lots of cops, a police chief saying "Get outta here!" in a thick NY accent, several miracles, our own private coach bus w/ bathrooms and TV's, gospel music, and a negative split fun run that had me road killing everyone in sight for miles upon miles.

Let's see here, a few things before the race:

We learned that in order to get a bib at the ever so important NYC Marathon, that all you need to do is show a confirm. That's it. Fuck security, fuck the countless checkpoints just to enter the expo, forget begging and pleeding with the director, forget it all.

This was Justin Jackson picking up Jason Kedzuch's bib. The resounding theme at the marathon expo was not only "Everything has changed since 911." ...but also "Everything has changed since Boston." Security was too the gills. (I hope everyone felt safe!) Now only if they could actually do something about the countless holes in the system. We were horribly hassled for trying to be honest and telling them we were picking up a friend's bib. Regardless of how low his number was or bringing countless forms of identification and proof, they wouldn't have anything to do with it. Apparently you could be the president and still need to show up in person to get your bib. Very VERY strict. In the end, all we wound up doing was going to the bin and grabbing Kedzuch's bib with no questions asked. The underlings didn't even care!! Just showed the emailed confirm on JJ's phone and that was it. Hilarious and tragic at the same time. Talking about a waste of resources. The lesson: screw being honest, and cheat the system.

OK, I also have this fixation with getting sleep before a marathon. Everyone should know this by now. Aaand occasionally, I like go in style. Enter the "Towne Car to Staten Island" trick that I learned from Myra Rasmussen long ago. It's very similar to "Spending the night in Hopkinton" trick before Boston that I graciously got from Dan McDowell. (I wish I could claim with these fool proof tricks as my own, but I can't). You get hours of extra sleep, reduce hassles of public transport, and boom. No problem right? I've done the Towne Car each of the last few times for NYC and without any issues. (Note to self and the short story: that theme of "Everything's changed since Boston" is apparently true. Perhaps using the public transit would be better next time).

I'll say that trying to take a Towne Car to the start was initially a good idea. The bad idea was getting a driver that didn't know his elbow from his asshole, and he's the driver in NYC that doesn't speed and doesn't know where the fuck he's going. Ultimately, the bridge closed on us because he couldn't fucking drive. Not totally my fault, but I'll take the blame. My bad. Needless to say some guys got a little stressed out about that.

Being a resourceful, calm person that I am, I started checking options off the list. The next easiest thing was to dump out of the car and then attempt to walk over the bridge. Years ago, this was fine. But of course... "Everything has changed since Boston." And every single cop in NYC reminded us of this. Jesus. Fine, we get it. So we walked... and we walked. Trying to find different ways onto the bridge. Dan Stanton even attempted to climb a fence at a military base to get to the bridge. The heavily armed guards chasing him were not amused. And we walked some more. And then a WSJ reported started walking with us. We told him that we were sub-elite runners and he started interviewing us. He tried hitching along with us to the start.

After a couple miles (which are not ideal before having to run 26.2 miles, but ok), we got to the base of the bridge/expressway where there were hundreds of cops and a sea of busses carrying runners over to the start. We pleaded, begged, cried, and bled our hearts out with cops to halt one of the countless buses going 5 mph at the on ramp of the bridge. Eventually a captain came over and recognized that (shocker) we weren't actually terrorists, but merely runners trying to participate in the marathon. The cops weren't happy, but finally after playing our "Sub-elite Towne Car with a WSJ reporter escort" story to them, the captain caved. ...And the bus that he stopped for us? Well it was completely empty. We wound up with our own private coach with all the amenities on it. Gospel music included, praising us! Unfuckingbelievable.

So a tiny bit of a snafu trying to get us to the starting lined... but it happened. Just like in Boston. We made it there. Safe and sound. With plenty of time to spare. And an extra 90 minutes of sleep to boot! Ya bish!!

OK, on to the fun run that almost didn't happen because we couldn't cross the stupid bridge because everything's changed since Boston.....

-----------------------

Race morning temps were chilly but eventually warmed up to the 40's. A slightly nasty wind was coming out of the NW, which meant a headwind for 20 miles. Typical for every NYC race that I've done... Why make it easy?

Amazingly, I was pretty calm and cool going into the start... even after the snafu of getting there. Probably because I had low expectations from the onset. In fact, because I didn't know how I would feel with my hip flexors/adductors, I wasn't even sure if I'd finish the thing.... I drowned myself in ibuprofen prior to the race to hopefully reduce this risk.

The basic plan was to hang with training partners, Justin Jackson and Evan Rosendahl for as long as possible. We were to target a 1:26-27 split, then to chop away towards a 2:50 goal if guys felt good. Ironically, Evan wound up missing the A-Corral cut off because he was site seeing (classic). And Justin and myself, which nearly missed the race all together, were perched in front of the A block. We stuck with one another for as long as possible.

At the gun JJ and I took it nice and easy, crawling up the Verrazano Narrows Bridge and getting passed by countless fat old ladies and guys. It was quite comical. We then put in several miles at a 6:40ish pace. We weeded our way through the crowds of runners that went out way too fast. (I still have no idea how all those people wound up in front of us!? We literally had thousands upon thousands of them!!) Justin helped to keep the reigns on me through that stretch. By mile 10, I was chomping at the bit to pick it up. I felt good. The ibuprofen had done its magic. If I was going to try for that 1:26/2:50 target, I needed to pull away.

At that point, I started passing everyone in sight. The crowds of runners became thinner as time went on... but wow, were there a lot of people back there! I guess that's what it's like to shoot for a 2:55 race? It's been a long time since I've seen that. Just taking it from 6:40ish down to 6:20-6:25 had me passing people like they were standing still. No doubt too that I pissed off a bunch as I jumped from pack to pack. It was windy though and I couldn't do it without a little shelter.

I continued that strategy of pack hopping and cutting them down until the 17th mile. Then I picked it up up 1st Ave. That's a great stretch of this race, and possibly one of the best straights in any marathon. Monster of crowds all the way pushing into the streets. I still felt solid, and it was basically like crawling compared to my normal MGP. I dropped some 6:15s. That was about as fast as I was willing to go, and about what I needed to get towards 2:50. After a couple miles and by the end of 1st Ave, I didn't have many more packs jump to.

At about 20 miles, I realized that sub 2:50 would be out of the question. I had a good stretch, but I needed another gear for sub 2:50 and I just didn't have it. Too much fitness had passed since Chicago. I still maintained 6:20-30s into Central Park. At that point, I broke slightly in on the hills, and it became a mere battle to just finish. My adductor and hip flexors were on fire. Those hills hurt a lot. More than they should've. I began to feel the pains I had in Chicago, but more so. I just hung in there. The last couple miles were about 6:35-40. It wasn't a travesty, but by the time I hit Central Park South and my final mile... I was begging for the finish like never before.

After I crossed the line, holy shit my legs hurt! I could hardly raise my knees to move forward. I was officially trashed. The mile walk to the gear pick up might've been the most painful mile of the day/week/month/year. Wow.

NYC wasn't what I originally wanted, though it was still a fun race. I adjusted my goals and made it work. It's hard to say if I enjoyed the experience there more than some of my other marathons. It was different. It wasn't as competitive so the glory wasn't there, but definitely had great stories! 2:52:18 and a nice negative split "tempo run". By some miracle I still placed 344th. Guessing that was due to the nasty head winds. Maybe I would've broke 2:50 without them? Doesn't matter.

In the days and weeks that followed, it became very apparent that I am now officially injured. I'm still not sure what it is... whether a torn adductor/groin muscle? Torn hip flexor? Something in my abs? Heaven forbid sports hernia.

For now, I'm chalking up running altogether and letting things heal. I've tested it a few times with some easy runs and to no avail. I'll give myself until the end of the year before I sort out what to do next and actually seek medical attention. Technically, I'm signed up for both Boston and Berlin in 2014 - but I need to get back to where I can run again before thinking about them.

Split recap:

K     Time       Diff      Pace

5-     0:21:32   21:32   6:56

10-   0:42:02   20:30   6:36

15-   1:02:34   20:32   6:37

20-   1:22:30   19:56   6:25

25-   1:42:54   20:24   6:34

30-   2:02:50   19:56   6:25

35-   2:22:53   20:03   6:27

40-   2:43:10   20:17   6:32

2.2-  2:52:18   09:08   6:37

1st Half-   1:26:54   6:38

2nd Half-  1:25:24   6:31

Overall-    2:52:18   6:34

344th Overall

Getting Injured

In between the Chicago Marathon and NYC marathon, I was forced to reassess my NYC goals. I initially wanted to actually run a course PR there - but not necessarily go all out. I wanted to lay up a mid/high-2:40's. This shouldn't have been too difficult given my fitness level. All I needed to do was maintain a base over the 3 weeks and heal from Chicago.

Unfortunately, I didn't heal. The following weeks from Chicago, my adductor/groin injury started to become increasingly a problem. I gutted out one final CARA 5K race, which under better circumstances could've been my 5K PR. After that race, I never recovered.

~~Incidentally, I ran 16:39 at that Halloween Hustle 5K. Good for 2nd place in my AG, and that sealed my 2nd place overall in the 35-39 AG for the entire 2013 CARA Circuit. I'm actually quite proud of that accomplishment, given that the 1st place runner is probably one of the fastest guys in my age group for the entire country! I wound up 8th in the overall circuit standings.~~

Anyway, my adductor/groin started to weigh on runs over 10 miles. It then started to weigh on each and every run. The only thing that calmed it down was soaking myself in anti-inflammatories. I kept cutting my mileage more and took as many days off as possible.

This all forced me to redefine my NYC goal and I decided to make it merely a "fun run". I was expecting worse, but I was still fit enough to go roughly 2:50 if I ran it conservatively.

Chicago Marathon 2013 & Start of Injury

This is a long over due post. I'm typing it months later and back dating it.

The Chicago Marathon was a disappointment for me. I still had a good race, but this was supposed to be a PR gimme.

Where to begin? Months ago, I had wanted this to be a "pinnacle race"... Meaning a PR that I've gunned for since Philly last year and in Boston, but couldn't get due to either a lack of stupid sleep or merely very tough course. It was intended to break me out of my 2:38-2:39 range.

Flat and fast course, combined with ideal weather was all I could ever ask for. The goal was simply a sub 2:38, which I should've easily been able to do in Philly or Boston. Even if I might've been more fit for those races, this should've been a sure thing.

So where did this go wrong? I suppose it all started following Boston, six months prior. I was recovering from the marathon, yet still ran some good races to take advantage of my fitness. I wound up getting a massage, and during that massage a muscle in my right adductor-groin knotted up severely or pulled. My adductors are always uber-tight, just like my hamstrings... but they generally have never been a problem. So the massage itself maybe didn't cause it, but it did ultimately triggered the Jack out of the box. And that Jack is fucking evil! Since then, it has yet to calm down and has wreaked havoc on my groin and abdomen.

Initially in June, I took a some weeks of downtime and reduced mileage to try to let that knot chill out. This should've helped. No such luck the knot never went away. In July, I needed to start training for Chicago. I found the adductor merely manageable, so I pressed on. A side effect of the down time was me bumping up back to 50/week and creating a classic shin splint in my left calf. I probably would've been better off not taking any downtime? The calf/shin actually effected me throughout my training more than the adductor. The adductor only became a bigger concern for me after my peak was in (and at the time, I was still more worried about my calf).

However, at about mile 10 in the Chicago Marathon the adductor moved to front and center.

The race itself had me going out very conservative and I was to pick up a healthy negative split for the PR. I crossed the half almost exactly on target: 1:19:20. I had run the first half with some teammates. They fell off just before the second half and I was solo for the balance. All I needed to do was drop a few seconds per mile and hold on.

After the second half though, and as much as I tried - each mile became increasingly difficult to maintain. Obviously this is the case with all marathons, but when I was basically under the impression that this PR was a lay up - it became a mental and physical problem for me.

My stride refused to open up and completely caved as I went deeper into the race. My lower abs and both adductors became extremely tight. I felt like I was running hunched over. After the 30K, I tried to get aggressive and had a few miles sub 6:00. At about 23 I was forced to pull back. I didn't hit the wall. I just couldn't stride any longer. I then maintained a 6:10-12 through the finish. A far cry from a strong finish and the last few miles were excruciatingly painful.

After, I described the race as my toughest marathon in several years. It wasn't supposed to be. This was nothing like what I had experienced in any of my other sub-2:40 races.

I finished in 2:39:37. Out in 1:19:20 and back in 1:20:17. Not a train wreck split, but certainly not what I had expected given over 3,000 miles in the last 12 months. My body failed me in the last 4 miles. There was nothing I could do. The only good thing I can say about this race is that I at least defended another 2:40. That's now my 7th sub-2:40 marathon. It was also my Chicago Marathon course PR by 1 whopping second. Whoopie!

After the race, I was extremely sore for a couple days. I took it easy and things chilled out by the end of the week.... or so I thought.

Split recap:

K     Time        Diff      Pace

5-     0:18:58   18:58   6:06.3

10-   0:37:38   18:40   6:00.5

15-   0:56:33   18:55   6:05.3

20-   1:15:13   18:40   6:00.5

25-   1:34:01   18:48   6:03.1

30-   1:52:44   18:43   6:01.4

35-   2:11:48   19:04   6:08.2

40-   2:31:03   19:15   6:11.7

.2-    2:39:37   08:34   6:17.0

1st Half-  1:19:20 / 6:03.1

2nd Half-  1:20:17 / 6:07.4

Overall-  2:39:37 / 6:05.3

153rd place overall / 21st IL / 4th IL AG / 2nd CARA AG

One final spin of the wheels

Yesterday, I was feeling spent and flat. Today... today is a new day.

I did a variation of Bill Leach's pre-marathon workout tonight as my final bit of speed:

1x 400 @ "mile pace" (ran 75.8)

1x 1600 @ "all out" (ran 5:00.3... 78,77,74,71)

1x 800 @ "mile pace" (chill at 2:32.5)

1x 800 @ "near all out" (rolled 2:24.1, evenly split)

1x 400 @ "all out" (rolled 66.1 and felt very comfortable)

I'm actually pretty pleased with this workout, considering how crappy I've felt in the last several days.

The mile started very slow. Braulio and Scott took the early lead, so I didn't have control. We also had a collision with a kid in lane 1 on the first lap (that probably cost a second). It finished a little slower than I wanted but I'm actually ok with it, as we ran a huge negative split. Someday I'll get the chance to blow one of these out.

In a weird way, I don't know that I've run a 800 that fast before...? I did a 65 second 400 back in the spring, with a similar workout. Anyway, I felt really smooth and never out of control anywhere in this workout. A full effort, but left me craving more. That's how it should've been run!

I'm completely off tomorrow and Friday. I'll also get a massage tomorrow. Shakeout on Saturday. There might be hope for me after all.

Tick Tock Taper

I'm questioning everything right now. I have no clue what my fitness has in store for me, come Sunday.

I can hang my hat on this: In the 15 weeks leading up to this marathon I will have run 1,068 miles. That includes a few down weeks and a cut back leading into August's vacation.

I've never run that many miles leading into a marathon before.

In the 15 weeks leading up to each sub-2:40, here's what I've done:

'13 Boston: 961 (2:38:23, tough course / near PR)

'12 Philly: 1,002 (2:39:40, the insomnia marathon)

'11 CIM: 877 (2:38:14, PR... spectacular)

'11 Rotterdam: 875 (2:38:46... spectacular)

'10 NYC: 1,006 (2:50/DNF... over trained, blew up)

'10 London: 725 (2:39:53... post-SFX, under trained, still near PR)

'09 Chicago: 987 (2:39:38... spectacular)

The only time I came close to these miles was for NYC in 2010. I pulled the plug on the training early as I was overcome with a calf strain. Without cutting it short, I probably could've squeaked in another 30 miles. I still tried to race it, but then blew up in it. At the time, that was my best fitness. I still wonder if I've actually ever been in that good of shape since then... (Hell, I haven't PRd my half since then).

My taper has me second guessing everything right now. I'm still sitting on 62 miles in the last 7 days (more than usual), and with only 4 more days to go. I'm still sore and achy. This needs to go away ASAP. I'll track it tomorrow night, then flush the system with a massage and few days off. Shake out on Saturday. Maybe that'll do the trick?

I know if I have the rest, I can be fast... I don't know how fast, but there is fitness in me... Will I allow the rest though? Will I get enough?? I can take 2 more days off. To keep my sanity though, I also need to run a few more days... I need the pre-marathon workout and a shakeout. I almost wanna only take 1 day off.

I have 4 days to go.

I feel like a crack addict.... I just need one more hit... The clock ticks loudly. It's starting to consume me.

Fucking taper. Fucking miles of trials and trials of miles.

Peak is in, now what?

I'm definitely feeling the effects of my training. I'm drained. I'm tired. I'm hungry. I'm sore.

I hit a 7 day PR peak of 110 miles about a week and a half ago. That was insane.

My quality has taken a hit as a result of the quantity. My peak is in though. I had 4 out of 5 weeks north of 90 miles, 6 of 8 weeks north of 80 miles.

Here are my most last 2 weeks of workouts:

9/25 - 20x 200 w/ 200 recovery:

- 20x 200's served a purpose and gave me some turn over... and I actually ran them pretty well.

1-5- 36.32 avg

6-10- 35.37 avg

11-15- 34.39 avg

16-20- 33.84 avg

34.98 avg

9/28 - Park Ridge 5K:

- The Park Ridge 5K turned out to be a bust. I gunned for a PR (needed sub 16:16), but I bombed in the final 1/2 mile.... It was spectacular up until that point, and then I just ran out of gas. Clearly that early pace pushed me and I paid for it... or I just didn't have the balls to finish the job (I hope that's the case). The weather was somewhat ideal too. That's my second honest attempt at PR'ing a 5K this year and failing by a matter of seconds.

1- 5:10.2

4- 5:12.8

3- 5:24.3

.1- 34.0

16:21, 5:17 pace

10/1 - 10mi Tempo:

- I then took 2 days off and went for a 10 mile tempo. It wound up being slower than I would've liked. Maybe I turned stale with the 2 day break? I donno, I simply lacked the hunger and ability to push the pace faster in the last couple miles though. I wouldn't have wanted to go any longer. My cool down home was a train wreck.

1- 5:55.8

2- 5:52.7

3- 5:58.1

4- 5:57.8

5- 5:58.0

6- 5:56.1

7- 5:58.0

8- 6:03.9

9- 5:54.1

10- 5:53.5

5:56.8 avg

10/3 - 10x 800 w/ 90 sec recovery:

- Mostly steady and averaged 2:37.4. To my defense, this was on the path and as a rain storm was clearing. It was 100% humidity and felt absolutely disgusting. A far cry from the 8x 800's at 2:32.8 that I had back on 9/5, and certainly not a confidence booster.

After a couple really solid workouts in early/mid September, I feel like this training ended with a thud. I got the volume though and made it though. Maybe too much quantity and not enough quality?? Shit, have I over trained??? And am I fit enough to roll a PR in Chicago? UGH....

TTM 3,121

I randomly thought about this today... What's my been mileage over the last 12 months? Answer: an eye popping 3,121 miles!

That's insane. It's a result of rolling through 3 different training seasons over the last year.

I generally think of things on a trailing 7-day scale, or a weekly mileage, or an calendar year's mileage... But I haven't thought of it on a trailing 12-months scale. It completely blows away other 12 month period that I've had before. On an calendar basis, I've run a little over 2,500 each of the last few years. CY13 will be a PR around 2,800-2,900. But over 3,121 on a TTM basis!? 60 miles a week, assuming no time off. That's big boy miles!

Certainly a lot of guys run more than I do, as I tend to peak for specific events (marathons), as opposed to maintaining more steady mileage in off seasons. My 3 seasons in the last twelve months have been Philly, then Boston, and now double dipping for the Chicago and New York City Marathons.

It's no wonder I feel trashed at the moment.

That number will push a bit higher too over the next 2 weeks as I round out this training cycle.

Monday night's 9 mi tempo was so-so. I'm happy it was done, but I'm not happy how the times rolled off. I faded a little in the last few miles as opposed to progressing. No doubt it was because I forced miles last weekend.... 51 miles in 3 days. Not something that I haven't done before, just how it was done. I jammed in a 15, then a 23 in Barrington, then a sloppy 13 on Sunday. 15 in front of the 23 made it very ugly. Let that be a lesson. 23 then 13 then 15 is ok. 15 then 23 = not worth it if I want to maintain any sort of quality.

Anyway, 3,121. Wow. Stay calm, and carry on.

Tempo recap:

1- 6:03.3

2- 5:51.0

3- 5:52.3

4- 5:45.4

5- 5:46.9

6- 5:46.5

7- 5:49.5

8- 5:53.9

9- 5:54.6

Avg- 5:51.5

Here we go, 20x 400...

Last week, I ran a very fast 8x 800 workout. My half marathon didn't reflect it. After the half and a few days of painful recovery runs, I forced myself to take a critical day off.  I went back to the track last night not knowing what to expect. It was time to spin wheels and hope for the best.

One of my all-time favorite workouts has become the 20x 400. OK, so it may not be as monstrous as Quenton Cassidy's 3x 20x 400, but 1x 20 is still a bad ass workout.

I ran with Scott, Evan, and Justin at North Park Track. We were looking for somewhere between 16 and 20 reps, with 75 seconds of rest. Headwinds on the home stretch; decent temps. We traded the lead for the first several laps, though I would up taking it more often. I clearly had a fire in me that some of the other guys didn't. I felt incredibly smooth and in control for the entire workout. I hung in there and progressed my pace for the full 20.

Taking the day off on Wednesday was a difficult decision to make, especially being inside of a peak week. I hate the idea that I had to do it, but I felt like absolute shit on Tuesday. I ran a double, and in the second run I literally had to stop a mile short because I was in so much pain. All sorts of banged up. My hip turned into a train wreck. My entire left leg was completely knotted up. I didn't have a choice, so I scratched Wednesday and opted to get a massage. I needed to hit the reset button. And reset I did.

Out of the last 5 years, my training log shows that I've run this workout 7 times now. I've never averaged 20x 400's this fast before. The closest I've come to 72.28 average was 72.5, just before Philly. I was in solid condition then... easily PR shape if it wasn't for a botched race.

I still have a little over 2 weeks of big mileage ahead of me. 

I'm starting to foam at the mouth.

Shin splints be damned... I'm not giving up that easy.

Split recap:

1- 73.7

2- 73.3

3- 73.9

4- 72.8

5- 73.1

1-5 Avg: 73.36

6- 72.8

7- 72.9

8- 71.6

9- 73

10- 72.2

6-10 Avg: 72.50

11- 71.8

12- 72.7

13- 72.8

14- 72.1

15- 72

11-15 Avg: 72.28

16- 71.7

17- 72

18- 71.2

19- 70.8

20- 69.3

16-20 Avg: 71.00

20x 400 Avg: 72.28