Patience

In many ways, year number two is going to be tougher for me than last year was. Last year, while I was physically beat for much of the winter due to the increased mileage, psychologically, I knew that if I could just somehow slog through the it, the rewards would be great. Also just being in unchartered territory with my yearly mileage gave me another boost and made me always want to press on.

However, this year will be run in the shadow of last year. I will constantly be comparing this years numbers to last years numbers. What I need to realize is that last year was a necessary step in getting to where I want to be. However, this year needs to be very different. Last year I focused solely on mileage for much of the year, only adding in some limited speedwork near the end. This year, I want to run faster more often. Will that come at the expense of mileage? I don't know. I know the one thing I can measure against from year to year will by my mileage. Something tells me the competitor in me won't allow myself to fall behind last year's mileage.

Which brings me to this year. I know that right now is the time to be patient. To build things up and get my body ready for the real training that is going to come in the months ahead. To trust the system. But that's not my nature. I want to pick up right where I left off and continue the training. Which probably explains why my hip, knee, and calf have all given me some sort of troubles in the past week. I know where I need to be, but I also know that I'm not there yet. I need to be patient if I want to reach my final destination.

Weekly mileage for last week was 52 miles. Again, things have just been crazy lately at home and at work, so to be honest, I'm not too dissapointed with getting even 52 miles in. On Friday we moved the biggest software release that I've ever been a part of into production, so with that, things should calm down at work for awhile. At home, the kids are all slowly recovering from their various colds and runny noses and even Ryan is starting to get a little closer to sleeping through the nights. You might even say things are back to normal, whatever that is.

Now it's time to refocus and move forward.

Revolt!

My body is pretty annoyed with me right now. Not in a "that's it. I'm shutting down" kind of way. More of a "What? I thought we were taking a break from this running stuff" kind of way. Apparently the short layoff that I had at the end of the year, set me back quite aways. While I do have an occasional good run here and there, for the most part, much of what I'm doing right now is slow and somewhat painful. On the bright side, with no clear cut goal races right now, I have time to take things slowly, build mileage and not rush it.

Today was two runs of 9 miles each, with about a 4 hours break between the two runs. I can't say I set any speed records on either runs, but I did survive and most importantly, nothing really hurt (except for my pride a little). I have been experiencing some knee pain in my left knee and some soreness in my hip flexors. At this point, I'm just going to monitor them and hope that as I get loosened up, these little nagging pains will just go away. Based on past experience, they usually do.

Rebuilding the Base

My main goal in these first few weeks of 2007 is to get my body used to the pounding that it is going to take with running up to 10 times per week. Last year it took me a good 3 months to get used to that. Hopefully this year, I will be able to shorten that up a little. Of course it would have helped, at least from a physical standpoint, if I would have kept up my running after Chicago. My mileage dropped considerably after Chicago due to lack of motivation and I kind of just let it go. However, I am a big believer in recharging the mind and body for some time each year, so I didn't want to get away from that this year.

So I was hoping last week would serve as a nice bridge up to the 50-60 mile range, but with the kiddie problems, it didn't happen. This week I am determined to get the mileage in. So yesterday I did my first double in a long time, doing 10 miles in the morning and then another 10 at night. Neither were at break neck speed, but the nighttime run was done at an average pace of 6:43 so I was encourage by that.

Now this morning my legs just seem really tight. I'm assuming it is just normal soreness, but I am going to be extra careful. Due to a crazy morning so far, I haven't managed to run yet today, but with 6 miles scheduled, I may just allow myself some extra rest and try to get to it tonight. Running at night hasn't been possible lately, because with Kelly at the hospital, I am usually alone with the kids at night. However, it now looks like baby Ryan will be coming home tonight, which means that maybe, some sort of normalcy will be returning to the household.

Wow. That sure sounds good to me.

Can I Take a Mulligan?

Last year was a very good year for me from a running perspective. I lowered my PRs on pretty much every racing distance from the 5K up to the marathon. I logged more miles by July than I have ever run before in a year, which was the key to my success. I've always considered myself a runner who wasn't afraid to work, but last year was really the first time I ever actually lived that out.

So now I have to try and avoid the sophomore slump. It's kind of strange that I would be worried about a sophomore slump when I have been running marathons for 9 years now, but that really shows how my thinking has changed. I really feel like last year was the first time that I have ever been compeletely focused and ready for marathon running. Hopefully, I can keep that same focus this year. I may get beat by faster runners this year, but I don't want to be outworked by anyone. I think that is an attainable goal.

So the plan was to start things off when the calendar clicked over to January 1st, but as has been the case lately, life got in the way. On New Years Eve, we brought my 2 year old and 2 month old into the hospital because they both were sick. The two year old was quickly released with a sinus infection diagnosis. The 2 month old wasn't so lucky. He was quickly transferred to another area hospital who was better equipped to handle him. Apparently, he had contracted RSV, which is a respiratory virus that can be pretty tough on a little baby.

Ryan has spent the past week in the hospital and he is slowly improving, with the key word being slowly. RSV is just one of those things that you can't rush the recovery. You have to let the virus run it's course. So that's what we're doing.

My wife has taken the brunt of the hospital duty, with me taking on the role of Mr. Mom, while working from home. It's been stressful and exhausting, but we've been managing. Hopefully, Ryan will be back home by the end of the week and things will soon return to normal. For the first week in January, I was able to log 37 miles, which is well below what I hoped for, but under the circumstances, I'll take it. Now with that first prep week under my belt, I hope to get to the real training. Starting now.