Saturday, February 06, 2010

Time Flies

I think there's some kind of conspiracy going on which is keeping me from sticking with my simple training plan for Big Sur. Like all good New Year resolution'ers, the year started off great guns and I was able to put in some decent miles, logging over 40 per week.

And then the wheels fell off...

First the dental surgeon had another go at me and between him, all the drugs, and waiting for the swelling to subside that week was shot... Did I mention that I hate dentists! All they do is cause me pain and anguish and charge alot of money. I'm still waiting for the results which might come in a year or so (they say) so I hope it's all worth it.

And then... I had to make an unscheduled trip up to northern NB for some family business resulting in a 5-6 hr drive each way and no time or inclination to run. I did find time to see Avatar which is quite an amazing movie and well worth seeing but didn't really need to drive 500k just for that.

And THEN...
I decided that a little volleyball would be a nice thing to try out again, especially since I'd received some nice new kneepads as a Christmas present this year. Bad idea. Things were going well for the 1st hour until I got over excited and after one particular jump and spike (into the net) I came up lame with a sore right forefoot. Managed to keep playing for a bit longer but then bowed out and went home early. As a result the foot was sore to walk on for a few days and no running because of it. It must have just been a slight strain because I was able to put in 4 pain free miles on the treadmill today. Hopefully it'll be OK for tomorrow's long run with Andrew.
So, I still managed 150 miles for January and if I try to hold the excuses at bay, then perhaps February will be a better month as far as being more consistent from week to week. The list of excuses seems to be longer than the reasons to run but what can you do but keep trying?

Meanwhile our plans for Big Sur are getting firmed up and we now have our flights, hotel and car rental arranged. We're planning on arriving in San Francisco the week before, spending a few days there and then doing touristy things for a few more days before heading down to Monterey for the marathon weekend. After that, we'll spend a couple more days in the area (with me recuperating) before we have to get on a plane for the 12 hour return flight. It's fun to look forward to though!

Happy running and watch for out that yellow snow!

10 comments:

Thomas said...

You're a seasoned marathon runner and with all the miles under your belt you will surely get away with an abbreviated marathon training plan. With 11 weeks to go it is not the time to panic just yet; arrange a few regular training runs with Andrew and you'll be sorted!

Good Luck!

Love2Run said...

Thanks Thomas, but please see my revised post with another problem that I neglected to mention. We runners don't x-train very well do we?

Jamie Anderson said...

Ah, perhaps the bad luck stuff is just getting itself out of the way now. I'm sure you'll be fine for Big Sur. Still time to get some more hay in the barn.

Ewen said...

Mike, I hope the pain of Andrew's jokes took your mind off the pain in your foot.

You've certainly gone for broke with the interruptions. Just need a case of pneumonia now to put the icing on the cake ;)

Anyway, keep plugging away. Sounds like you've got a memorable trip organised. And no snow to watch out for down here - just yellow dust.

Grellan said...

150 miles is not bad for january especially given all the obstacles you threw in your way. Still plenty of time to ramp up. I'm sure Andrew will have plenty of advice..........between the jokes!

Trevor said...

Monterey is a beautiful area. Drop by Carmel and say "Make my day!" to Clint Eastwood. A little joke, perhaps Andrew-worthy: A dentist says "I have to pull that tooth. It will take 5 minutes, at a charge of $300." Patient/Mike says "$300 for 5 minutes?", to which the dentist replies "I can extract it more slowly if you would like"

Andrew said...

That is a good joke!

Some things in life are just wrong. And volleyball is one of them.

Garry said...

No doubt you will do just fine on whatever mileage you manage to cobble together. You're just one of those guys "Born to Run"

Chrispy said...

Spend some time browsing pictures from Big Sur and that motivation should handle all those pesky excuses on the list :)

Arcane said...

I still have to play my Big Sur weekend. Guess i should start looking soon.