Silver Strand

I really could have used a proper taper.  I was staying within grasp of a 1 hr 40 mins half marathon through 7 miles, but it was taking all my effort to hold that pace, and by the time I reached the 9 mile marker, I was at 95% of max, my ankle was killing me and I was 2 minutes behind goal and losing ground.   I calculated I'd have to run about 7:15 the rest of the way to hit that target, and there was just no way. I was already slipping back to 8-minute/mile territory. 

So, I dropped back and ran the rest of the way just to survive.

Mile	Split	Cum.	Goal	Delta
1	7:45	7:45	7:38	+0:07
2	7:45	15:30	15:16	+0:14
3	7:35	23:05	22:54	+0:11
4	7:46	30:51	30:32	+0:19
5	7:43	38:34	38:10	+0:24
6	8:06	46:40	45:48	+0:52
7	7:50	54:30	53:26	+1:04
8	8:01	1:02:31	1:01:04	+1:27
9	8:08	1:10:39	1:08:42	+1:57
10	8:30	1:19:09	1:16:20	+2:49
11	8:26	1:27:35	1:23:58	+3:37
12	8:04	1:35:39	1:31:36	+4:03
13	8:05	1:43:44	1:39:14	+4:30
13.1	00:50	1:44:34	1:40:00	+4:34

The cardio fatigue is explicable.  It's kind of crazy to think I could run a half marathon at PR pace during a week when I'd done a hard interval workout and another 14-mile run just 4 days earlier.  Altogether, including today's 13.1, I totaled 40 miles for the week.  Of course I'm going to be heavy-legged and my HR was going to reflect the weariness.  I can accept that.

What worries me is the ankle.  70 days to go and this ankle tendinopathy isn't relenting.  I remember dealing with this (same ankle) back when my mileage was at about the same point during RnR marathon training.  I'm positive that it isn't the slight sprain I suffered in September.  That aggravated it, sure, but it's got to be a tendinosis of the posterior tibial tendon, brought on by my collapsing arch and over-pronation.  I've been stubbornly resisting stability shoes and orthotic inserts, hoping that running on the forefoot and doing foot strengthening exercises would do the trick.  So far...no.

The Saucony Guide mild motion control shoes Mike gave me might help, but I'm going to look into adding an insert and seeing if that'll help.  I'm also going to make it a twice-daily habit of exercising the ankles doing the lifts, toe scrunches and wobble board.  I also focus on cross training this week and knocking my mileage back as much as 50%.  I want to do the 15 mile training run with the SDR group on Saturday at Lake Miramar.  That'll be a good chance to re-evaluate.

I just realized I didn't spend any time summarizing the race.  Truth is, there's not much to recount.  Or maybe I was just overly fixated on the negatives.  I did finish 19th in the M45-49 division.  A week later and I'd have been 50, and my time would have put me in that division's top 10.  (If I'd gone ahead and done the 5K, I think I would have medaled.)

Michael had a great race.  I didn't see him, but I saw his time and he ran a 1:35:something, finishing 4th.  Wow.  He's really gotten fast.