I took an unplanned break from running for two weeks in Greece with a knee injury. After I returned to the US and was able to run again, I went to my usual doctor for all things running related, the guru Josh Bross, who said I must have strained my VMO. I'm not sure how that happened, but at the time I had noticed some medial hamstring tightness, which Dr. Bross said could have made my VMO work harder. I suspect the primary cause was that we do a lot more walking in Athens than elsewhere, and the sudden increase in walking (the injury happened after about a week in Athens) on top of my usual running was just a bit too much for my aging legs. In the future I need to turn down the running at the beginning of trips to Athens to give my legs a chance to adapt to the increased overall step count. Anyway, the medial side of my knee hurt for several weeks and made even walking difficult during that time. My knee cap wasn't tracking correctly and would click, sometimes painfully, with almost every step. Eventually it improved a bit and we were able to do some hiking. Then, in the third week of August, I was able to start doing very short jogs every other day or so. I worked up to a 9 mile run on our last full day in Greece, August 24, and then joined the DC Road Runners SLR horde for a 12 mile run on Saturday, August 27. That last full week of August I ran 35 miles, slower than usual but without knee pain. Obviously I wasn't able to race the Annapolis 10 Miler on August 28 as I had planned, but it turns out I could defer my race entry until next year. Below is a summary of the next two weeks, which is to say the past two weeks. I've ramped the mileage back up pretty steeply in hopes of being able to handle running the DC Half next weekend on September 18. I won't be fit to race it but hope to use the race, weather permitting, as an introduction to marathon goal pace or at least marathon effort, since I'm now 12 weeks away from the Rehoboth Beach Seashore Marathon, which is my primary goal race this Fall. I did manage to get a spot in the Army Ten Miler, which is still far enough away that I'm holding out hope to be fit enough to put in a race effort there. Later on, I'll probably also do the Veteran's Day 10k (November 6) and the Rothman 8k in Philadelphia (November 19) as tune-ups. Thinking even further out, this coming week registration opens for the 2023 Boston Marathon. I ran Boston in 2015 and enjoyed it, but since then I usually complain about groupie marathoners who return to Boston every year and wear BAA jackets around (unless they have some actual connection to the city of Boston), and about the resulting lack of alternative Spring marathons to run. I usually prefer to do other Spring marathons instead where they exist, like Shamrock last year and Buffalo in 2019 (both great races). I've had my eye on the relatively local Salisbury Marathon since it started a few years ago and had assumed it would be next on my list. But I find myself seriously entertaining the idea of returning to Boston in 2023 instead. I like small and medium sized races, but I also like doing big races occasionally, and I guess I'm feeling like it's time for a big marathon next year. Unfortunately, in the US, there is only one big, exciting Spring marathon, and when I get past complaining about that fact I remember that it is indeed a magical event. So I'm leaning toward "applying" to run Boston. It's unclear whether my 3:15:34 at Shamrock is good enough to get me a spot. The current qualifying time for men 45-49 is 3:20, so I would need the cut off time to be 4:26 or less. But if it's not, then I can run Salisbury and do a big race next Fall. That's my thinking right now anyway.
August 29 - September 4:
Mo: 6 x 200m
Tu: 5 miles
We: 3 mile moderate tempo @ 6:43/mi.
Th: 5 miles
Fr: 5 miles
Sa: 14.5 miles @ 7:55/mi.
Su: off
Week total: 42.5 miles
Mo: 5.5 miles with 4 strides
Tu: 6 miles
We: 3 mile tempo @ 6:21/mi.
Th: 6 miles
Fr: 6 miles
Sa: 17 miles @ 7:53/mi.
Su: 2 miles
Week total: 50 miles
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