Not Fearing 'The -itis' Anymore

As I wrote last week, Wisconsin ran the gambit for weather with rain in the early part of the week and having freezing temps in the middle, so when the weekend came around, I wasn't all too surprised that it was sunny, clear and mild with the temps close to 50. Nothing like experiencing pretty much all four seasons in a weeks time, right? What else would you expect from Wisconsin. The idyllic temps came pretty much at the perfect time because after doing a good 20 miler a couple weeks ago, I wanted to get in another decent long run of between 15 and 18 miles, and it is always helpful when the weather cooperates somewhat. After hearing Saturday mornings forecast Friday night, I have to say I was actually looking forward to getting out in the morning and putting in some quality miles in the capitol city. That thought actually made me laugh a bit. There was a time in the not so distant past that I really NEVER looked forward to doing those long, long training runs, even if I was in shape. I mean physically I knew I could do them, but mentally I just looked at it as drudgery. Back then, I was a little more injury prone because I was still pretty new to the marathoning discipline and I always worried that the 18 and 20 mile runs would just totally shred my legs and I'd end up getting some sort of tendonitis, bursitis, or fasciitis. I definitely feared "The -itis." It was getting to the point that my physical therapist would send me birthday and Christmas cards because of all the business I was giving them. Also, I was seriously thinking of how nice it would be to have my own ultra sound or iontophoresis machine, and investing in Aleve and Advil stocks seemed to be a viable option for me. I digress, though. If, however, I didn't sustain an injury from my long training runs, my legs would almost certainly be trashed for a day or three after completing it. In all honesty, they felt like someone took a baseball bat and just pounded the crap out of my quads. In other words, my legs hurt and hurt badly. Last year, though, I kind of reached a turning point in my training. Instead of scaling back my training a bit when my legs hurt, I decided to push myself to a point in which I thought my body would never accept. Most of last year I was doing three to four training runs a week that were ten miles or more. I actually averaged close to 40 miles per week for the whole year and ran over the 2,000 mile plateau for the first time in a calendar year. I had turned into Forrest Gump. The old adage of "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" certainly held true in my case. My legs actually had the exact opposite effect that I thought they would have by pushing them to the limit. Instead of breaking down even more and incurring injury, they kept getting stronger and stronger and I actually got to the point where a 10 mile run around the lake was as easy as a basic five mile run used to be. Let me tell you, that's a great feeling. Now, when when I have an easy day of just five miles, I almost feel like I'm cheating my body and not doing enough. Isn't that funny... who would have thought? Certainly not I. The other residual effect of logging a ton of miles and getting your legs stronger than you ever thought they could be is that those 18 to 20 milers don't seem quite as daunting as they used to be, especially when you have a day as nice as I had this past Saturday in Madison to work with. It really does make it all the more enjoyable. Again, who would have thought that? Again, certainly not I.

Saturday's workout: 18.1 miles > 2:22:23 > 7:40 pace

Sunday's workout: 5.5 miles > 43:49 > 7:58 pace

Miles last week: 51.7