A View to the Future

Well, post Derby Marathon training was going well till just a few weeks ago when in a week I got bit by a dog, leaned back in my office chair and tipped it over then after a morning run went to work and sat for too long.  All of these seem to have added up to my back seizing up and then to exacerbate the issue I helped move some furniture with the end result being a back that was out of whack which led to a sore hip and those two seemed to have worked together to make my Accessory Navicular  Syndrome/Posterior Tibial Tendon pain get worse.  Thus, after a great lead-up to, and race at, the Derby Marathon I now have back, leg and foot issues.  While the good thing seems to be that the problems were not necessarily related to training issues it is in some ways more frustrating as, at least with the Dog, I could not avoid them.  I should add after some chiropractic adjustments and dry needling things do seem to be heading in the right direction.

Why do I share all of this and how does it relate to this post?  As I was heading to California for work for a month in June I had decided to enter and run a 33 mile trail race but as I write this post my back and hip are still not where they should be and my right foot is also sore and running long on trails seems to make it worse.  Thus while I hate to miss out on races I took a long term perspective and decided to not run the race, even if things feel better before the coming weekend.  I made the decision not simply based on how I feel now, or may feel in a few days, but also based on long term plans and goals.  Too often I make decisions based on the next month or two but having long terms goals for the next year played into what I should do now.  I could probably do the race but know that after I am done I would probably have to cut back mileage again for a month, or worse injury my foot more, and lose out on what I have been aiming for this year – running and riding consistently.

What are these plans that I have for the next year:  Grand Canyon R2R2R in October of 2018, Boston Marathon in April 2020 and Dirty Kanza 200 Gravel bike race in June 2020.  While two of those are quite some time away and could probably allow for some down time the R2R2R run is only 4+ months away and I want my back and foot in the best shape they can be in.  You may also wonder, or not, how a 200 mile bike race ends up being in my list of running goals.  Well, for some time I have had foot issues and have found that my distance limit, at least for now, seems to be the marathon. Truth is even the marathon distance creates some issues but of a lesser degree that I can deal with.  What I have found is that riding does not hurt my foot and since I really like riding it is a great fit to help scratch that Ultra itch without compromising my health and also works to give me the needed aerobic work for a long period of time to be able to help with my Boston training.  Hence I will be looking to do some gravel racing in the future.  Dirty Kanza is on my list for next year but since it has a lottery to get in I cannot be sure I will be able to ride it in 2020 but will be training as if I will and if I do not get in will find another ride to do and look to 2021 for the DK200.

With long a long term look I am going to attempt to do a weekly roundup on the blog of the previous weeks training and thoughts on how it went.  Included in this will be comments on diet for the week as how I eat is important to my success in what I do and especially in the longer runs such as Boston and rides such as DK200.  You can also follow me on Strava if you like.  Also, over the next year I will be have posts on training in general on what I think I did correct and,  just as important, what I did wrong and would change.

If there are things you want to ask let me know as I will work to answer those questions.  I am not the best for detailed training plans, at least for myself, but do tend to go into a week with a general plan and for this coming year there are a couple things I want to do.  One is to add in some speed work since for Boston I would like to aim for 3:18 and will need some speed work.  Secondly with Dirty Kanza being 200 miles and thus a very long day on the gravel I want to do a number of much long rides where I am out for 10+ hours or more.  Sort of funny as those two goals seem counter to each other, speed and distance, but I think if I do them correctly they can complement what I want to do in the next year.

That is the plan now time to execute – stay tuned