peer pressure and more information than you wanted...

Crike...people actually read these things???

Now that I have 10 minutes during someone's should-be nap time (she's actually fussing in her room right now) I can actually have a sip of coffee and drop a few thoughts here.

Maria, it's in the upper left calf. I believe it's the gastrocnemius (outer part, about 4" below the knee). Weird thing is that the skin is numb to the touch and light massage is also numb. Only when I put a fair amount of pressure on it can I actually feel it. The good thing is I did the foam roller last night and there was no pain...at all. Not that it means anything - I thought I was in the clear 2 weeks ago and it flared up just as bad.

I first noticed it after coming back from vacation - at the beginning of my run on Tuesday Sept 2. I did my normal post-lunch duck and run from my cube (from work) and made it about 0.5 miles and had to stop and limp back. I took the rest of the week off and did some stationary bike and lifting. Week of Sept 8 I worked up progressively in mileage 2 (slow on TM) -> 4(TM) -> 5 -> 4 -> 8...but I think I ran the last few a bit fast. I just looked back and my pace, other than Monday/Tuesday on the TM, was 8 - 8:20 mpm. The following Monday I went out for 6.2 miles and woke up Tuesday knowing I wouldn't be running that day or any day soon. So, back to the gym for more bike/elliptithingy/pool/lifting/stretching and icing at home every night.
This week I eased back into it even more. Since I can't seem to control my pace right now, I stayed on the TM despite it being some of the best running weather we've had yet.

I'm getting pissed b/c I'm supposed to be coming into the 'heavy' weeks in my training.
Following are my scheduled and actual miles run:
Week of - Scheduled - Actual
9/1 - 39 - 6.1
9/8 - 36 - 23.1
9/15 - 37 - 6.2
9/22 - 41 - 6 (so far - 5 on the TM planned this afternoon)
I'm having to revise my schedule but not sure where to go w/it so I have to play it by ear...or by calf. Today was supposed to be an 18-miler and I wanted to run at least 3 20-milers prior to Philly. Ideally, I would have run 5-20 milers (actually 2-22 milers and 3-20 milers).
It's been 5 weeks since I have had a solid week. That's a problem.

So you can see why I'm slightly nervous about my conditioning for a marathon in 8 weeks. I had grand plans of a PR but now it's all about survival. If I make it that far, I don't think I'll be tapering much - probably just doing to treat Philly as a really long run and see how it goes. I do think I'm going to start fast to get some miles behind me. I don't fare well when I'm on my feet too long. Everytime I have run a marathon over 4 hours I cramp in a horrendous way - despite drinking every mile, eating Gu, self massage, etc.

I'm not going to post my running schedule ahead of time - that's what got me in trouble last time. I think the running gods read my ROTD and sniped me. But, if you care to make suggestions, I'm all ears.
(for those of you who haven't met me, you'll see that I really am ALL ears when/if you do).

I'm not going to be able to hit 50 mpw this training cycle - not enough time between now and then and I really don't have the time during the day to bang out consistent 10/12 mile weekday runs. This spring I was able to because I was at home and had help from a friend or two watching DD while I ran.

We'll see how this coming week goes. More ice. More TM. More bike. More swimming. Hopefully more miles.

Cheers