The Training Crucible

This week I faced the fact that there was something seriously wrong with my foot.  For two weeks now I have dealt with a injury to my right heel.  At first I thought it was simply my Achilles tendon tightening up on me after a hard 8 mile run.  I pushed it out of mind, thinking that an old football injury from senior year of high school was coming back to haunt me.
My intentional thoughts in regard to training were to simply press on. It would continue to run, but not try to push the pace until my foot felt better. I had fallen into the trap that many runners succumb to:
You see, my plan said to run, so ran. This mentality has been with me forever.  For example from the time of pre-K until graduation of high school I missed exactly one day of school (3rd grade- food poisoning, I still can't eat roast beef sandwiches from on fast-food chain). I even took 3 exams in isolation because I had chicken pox my junior year!
But after 2 weeks of running, and no improvement I figured it was time to give it a rest and hope that it heals quickly. (I should add that it took some prompting from my fabulous wife to actually get me to stop running for a few days).
Then I had to promptly diagnose my condition in order to know how to treat it. Fortunately I have couple of close friends that are PAs and they talked with me about...PLANTAR FISCIITIS.  NOOOOOOOOOOO!
This has been described by Christopher McDougall as the "vampire bite" for runners.
So what is plantar fisciitis?
Basically it is pain in the heel of your foot.  It can be caused by adding too many miles, too quickly, wearing the wrong shoes or running too fast.
I believe mine was caused by the combination of factors:
1. Wearing the wrong shoes.  Earlier this spring I was at a running expo for the Little Rock Marathon and I found a great deal on some New Balance shoes.  I thought I was buying the 769 which has been great for me (a stability shoe, for those with normal arches) instead I bought the 1063 (a neutral cushion shoe, for those with high arches).
2. The speed work plan where I was trying to push myself everyday.  I have learned that there is a reason to have recovery days. Planning to get faster as fast as possible led me to the (wrong) conclusion that I had to faster at every workout.  Taking a day to do a recovery run so that I can back the next with greater intensity would have been a better approach (it also might have kept me injury free).

As far is treatment goes, I would follow the plan from Runner's World. I have been using it the past 2 days and I feel a ton better.
Hopefully I'll be ready to run again this weekend.  Today I got on the elliptical for 30 minutes and didn't have any issues, although it doesn't create the same pounding sensation you get from running.

Good luck to all the runners out there. I hope you stay injury free, but if you do get injured, remember to take some time off! Trust me, you'll be okay!

Side Note: You get some strange photos when you search for images of foot injuries!

Week 4 of Hal Higdon's Spring Training is now done, so here are the numbers:

This week I wrapped up my first week of speed work training.  Overall it has been a great week.  The daily regime of P90X has gotten me ready for running everyday (with one day of rest each week).  So here are the details from this past week of training:

Monday: 3 Mile Run: 8:44 pace. This is suppose to be an easy run, the purpose is just to build up miles.
Tuesday: 3 X Hill: I picked out a quarter mile section of a hill near my house.  Running up the hill my average pace was 7:00/mile.  I jogged back down the hill and then repeated. I did a total of 3 miles on this day becasue there was about a 1 mile warm up and then another mile for cool down.
Wednesday: 3 Miles: 8:12 pace. One hour of strentgh training.  For my Wednesday strength training sessions throughout the period of training I'll be using the P90X Core Synergistics DVD.  This gives me a near full body workout that focuses on my upper thighs to my lower chest. I have talked about the impotance of a strong core and now I'm applying it.
Thursday: Rest. I think we all understand this one.
Friday: 30 Minute Tempo. The first time I have prepared a tempo run before. After a 10 minute warm up at an easy pace I did a steady build up to a 7:45/mile pace over 10 minutes.  The wrapped up with a 10 minute cooldown, dropping my pace back to 8:45/mile.
Saturday: 6 Mile Run. The plan was to make this an easy run.  The first 4 miles were easy, and then I realized it was like 95 out and I had no water. Not a great combo, so rather than risk injury I slowed down. The pace over the total 6 was 9:49, but the first 4 was at 8:45.
Sunday: 3 Miles, 8:57 pace. One hour of strength training. I did another full body workout, this time with weights. Moves included incline press, leg press,donkey calf raises, hammer curls and standing row. I wish I had kept a more detailed log on the excerises and weights that I used, but I missed it this time.
I'll repeat the same schedule agian this week, except the Saturday run will be 7 miles, and I'll be sure to have water this time (as well as running earlier in the day).

Runner's World's latest issue features an article on speedwork focusing on fartleks. For those unfamiliar with the term fartlek, it is Swedish for "speed play."  The basic concept is to alternate between periods of fast and slower run. 
Here's how it works:
1. Run at your average pace.
2. Either pick a specific point in front of you, or a specific amount of time at which you are going to pick up the pace. While the increase doesn't need to be a sprint, it should be 30-40 seconds faster than your average pace.
3. After you reach your distance or time goal, slow back down to your previous pace. Continue running at this pace until you are ready to run fast again.
4. Repeat.

I think the best way to do this type of workout is to have a specific total run time or distance planned.  In order to get the speed work benefit of this workout you also have to be disciplined about picking up the pace.  Don't cheat yourself on this workout.  Sure, there are times when this could be the easiest workout of the week becasue of the slower pace, but you need to push the pace in order to improve.
In order to help me track those periods of increased pace I use a watch with a lap function (my Garmin 205). 
There are a couple of things I would recommend you track when you do your fartlek workouts:
1. What was your pace your pace during the periods of when you were running faster?
2. How long were your recovery periods? 
3. What was the total run time?
4. What was your total distance?

By tracking these parts of your workout you can make some great comparsions between your workouts.
I'm currently working on a spreadsheet that will help me track and compare my workouts. Once I get it ready, I'll make it available for anyone who is interested, just look for an updated post.

This week I have a started a new training program focused on speed work. Making this changes now does mean that I have only completed 60 days of the P90X challenge, however it also means that I can get in 16 weeks of work before I start my mileage build up for the St. Jude's Marathon in December.
The main reason for the switch is quite simple: I want to run faster! I basic common sense, if you want to run faster, then you must run faster.  While more running will improve your conditioning and allow you to run longer and harder, focused training on speed work can provide better results.
As I did with the marathon training last year, I've started with a plan from Hal Higdon. My plan is modeled after the Intermediate Spring Training Plan.  The changes I am making include increasing the plan from 12 weeks to 16. First, let me explain the core components of the schedule and then I tell you how and why I am making the changes.
Core Components of Hal Higdon's Speed Work:
1. During weeks 1-6 the focus is on hill work.  Running hills can be draining. It will drain in during your race, so running them in training is a necessity.
2. During weeks 7-12 the focus switches to repeats of 200 meters and 400 meters on a track.
3. Two days a week you run 3 miles and then focus on strength training (here is where I can add in some moves for P90X).
4. Two days with easy runs, one about 25% longer than the other. This simply helps you get more miles in without wearing yourself out.
5. One day each week alternates from week to week with tempo runs and fartleks.
6. A day of rest. You need it if you run hard.

The Changes
Really the only change that I am making is increasing the number of weeks from 12 to 16. One reason why is I want to focus more time on the hill work.  My next scheduled race is the Soaring Wings Half Marathon which has a lot of hills on it, a couple of which really took it out of me last year.  The additional weeks will also give me the opportunity to use two different hills.  In explaining the hill work Higdon says, "Select a hill about a quarter-mile long, but don't worry about pitch or the exact distance." I have several hills near my house, one which is a steady increase, but rather low pitch and another that I call a "soul sucker", because you are exhausted by the time you get to the top of it. They are both about the same distance, but the pitch (elevation change) is dramatically different.  My thinking is, I'll encounter both types of hills on the course, so try for what I'll race.  The additional weeks will allow me to run one hill one week, and then another hill the next.  The extra weeks on the hills will also give me more opportunities to compare my running stats from week to week.
As far as the strength training goes, I'll be working on a plan tonight to figure out what exercises I'll be doing to help me maintain the work I have already done as well as help me improve my speed.

How have you used speed work in training?
Do you feel like focused speed work has helped or do you prefer to simply log more miles?


[image by netdogg1103]