Why 2010 Sucked And What I'm Doing About It In 2011.

2010 was a disappointing year for me.  I started off the year with high hopes.  I had a relaxing December 2009 and kicked off the new year by giving the 30-30 Challenge(30 runs of at least 30 minutes for 30 consecutive days) a second(really a third) attempt.  I got through January with one of my highest mileage totals since I had started running again, even eclipsing the heavy months of my marathon training the previous summer.  All seemed to be good.  My legs felt great, I was splitting time between my Nike Frees and my Vibrams and I went into February with a solid plan laid out for my Long Island Marathon training.  I even had two 5k races mixed in there.

February went well and I had a stellar 10-mile long run and an even better 12-mile long run where I managed to drop my pace the last 2 miles to what I anticipated I would be race pace on May 2^nd.  I entered my first recovery week feeling good.  I knocked out an easy 8 miles.  My calf felt a bit tight but it wasn’t bothersome during or after.  My next run, which was to be a tempo run, is where my year went completely downhill.  I was approaching an intersection on a downhill and was slowing up because cross traffic had the green.  I was 20-feet away from the intersection when I felt the pain that would haunt me almost the entire year.  It was my left calf again.  It felt like any other calf strain I’d had in the past year.  I was out in shorts on a chilly day and in an effort to avoid hypothermia, I turned around and started a slow jog back.  That slow jog is probably was truly did me in, but having no cell phone to call for a ride and not wanting to hitch I followed the only option I had.  I got home and my calf was tight and sore.  I figured I’d give it a few days.  That turned into a week.  The pain seemed to be gone, but it came back.  I saw my sports doc, got an xray, was denied an MRI and started with a treatment plan.  I was on and off with running.  The pain would go away, I’d run a few days and it’d come back.  I changed my marathon entry to the half, lost money on another half and a 15k and resolved to get myself to the start by whatever means necessary so I wouldn’t lose another chunk of change.  I ran the half, wearing my Brooks, which had only been used a handful of times.  I suspected part of the problem was my minimalist footwear.  7 miles in the pain returned.  I altered my stride and managed to finish the race.  I was hurting.

I took the next month off.  I yearned for running.  I filled the void with cycling after purchasing a bike and signed up for beach volleyball with the GF.  Friends asked me if I wanted a referral to a good podiatrist.  I declined, convinced that rest was the only way to get this to go away, knowing that my insurance company wouldn’t allow for a proper diagnosis (MRI) and that I’d be sitting in a doctors office once or twice a week paying $50 out of pocket for therapy.

June arrived and I started running again.  I ran short distances.  I ran on the boardwalk where we played Volleyball.  My runs were sporadic and that impending sense of doom was lurking.  My calf would feel sore and I’d lay off, or I wouldn’t and would be forced to take a pause.  I made the hard decision to once again put off the Steamtown Marathon to the following year.  I couldn’t get myself running consistently and as we moved into July where I would have started a training plan, I found myself barely running 10 miles per week.  Things were shaping up to look like this would be the summer of biking.

I held fast with my biking and it paid in the end.  I had a few sporadic races.  I didn’t really train for them.  A Corporate Challenge, a fundraiser for my friends father and the Cow Harbor 10k which, despite still running less than 10 miles a week, I completed in 47 minutes.  And Cow Harbor is not an easy course…there’s a hill called “The Widowmaker”.  For the most part the fall had much of the same.  I ran 2 more races, and the final 5-miler was what brought me to another rest period.  The days after I could feel the damage.  I never had a problem during the run but each attempt after led to a bit of pain.  The straw that broke the camels back was a run on a very cold and windy day.  I got hurt halfway through and had to gimp home.  At least it was only 1 mile this time.

At that point I resolved, no more running.  The winter brought me to join a new gym near work.  I had been borrowing rollers and eventually got my own for Christmas, so I was maintaining some level of exercise.  Once the gym opened, I started to make use of the money I was dropping on it and have been going at least once nearly every workday and sometimes on weekends.  I started spin classes and have been swimming.  All my core and weight routines are done in my Vibrams to encourage more strength and flexibility.  So far I am happy with my progress.

So, after that not-so-brief history you’re probably wondering what this has to do with my 2011 racing plans.  Well, put simply I want to make 2011 my year.  I’m going VERY slowly with my running.  I am planning to ride some huge mileage on my bike, and I’m slowly finding myself in the pool for longer durations.

So here’s what I have planned for the year:

Running

·        NY State Parks Summer Series:  June thru July.  Races range from 4k to 10k.  As the second half of the series will be during the first month of my marathon training I will be treating these as tempo runs or speedwork.

·        Dirty Sock 10k: Mid-August.  Ran this in 2009.  It’s a fun race, held mostly on trails.  Hence the title.

·        Bob5k: Mid-September. This will be my 5^th year running this race.  It’s a fundraiser for a close friend’s father who suffers from Locked-In Syndrome.

·        Cow Harbor 10k: 3^rd weekend of September.  Want to run this again and clobber last years time.  The Widowmaker will be my bitch.

·        Steamtown Marathon: October 9^th.  I’ve deferred 2 years in a row now.  I am running it this year and I am going to smash my only other marathon time of 4:02:01.  Will I BQ?  Maybe.  My shorter race time indicate it’s entirely possible and Steamtown is a fast course.

·        Garden City Turkey Trot:  Thanksgiving.  This will be my 4^th year.  I hope to break my 34:05 from 2 years ago.

·        December race?  I’m undecided/unsure of my options.  Dependent on how I feel after Steamtown maybe I’ll finally venture out to Vegas.

Bike

·        Gran Fondo NY:  May 8^th.  106 miles out and back from Manhattan to Bear Mountain with 3 timed climbs up the mountain for points.  This will be a tough challenge for me.  I live on Long Island where mountains don’t exist and I’ve never ridden more than 40 miles in a single sitting.

·        Gran Fondo Philadelphia: August.  Depends on what day it’s held, if it conflicts with other events.  I lived in Philly for a little over a year so it’ll be nice to ride there and spend some time in the city.  Cheesesteak anyone?

Other

·        Town of Oyster Bay Triathlon:  August 28^th.  .5 mile swim, 15k bike, 5k run.  Yup, you read that correctly.  Triathlon.  This is pretty much the test of the year for me, after of course the marathon.  The biggest challenge will be the swim.  If it goes well, who knows what might be on the calendar next year.

·        Wantagh Fall Duathlon: October 23^rd. 2 mile run, 15k bike, 2 mile run.  Maybe.  It’s only 2 weeks after Steamtown.

So there it is.  My year as I’ve planned it.  I’m going to maintain a positive attitude and grind away through the year.  I’m already off to what I feel is a great start with the workload I’ve been putting in each week.  It’s tough right now because of class, but once that ends in June trying to fit everything in will be a breeze.