Inertia

I mentioned in a previous post that I registered for a marathon. In fact, I regiestered for the St. Louis Marathon, which will take place April 9, 2006, which is just under 21 weeks away. I am not sure I will be ready at this pace.

I am using the program devised by a Professor at the University of Iowa, which is a 16 week program that involves running only 4 days per week. Over 200 people have taken this course and only ONE person has not finished the marathon. Based on the success of the program, he published a book which has rave reviews on Amazon. So I bought the book and have been following their pre-training-training program (gets you up to 30 minute runs 4 times a week, which I have not been able to do for several years).

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1570281823/qid=1132105486/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-6276787-8671960?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

I've been stuck on the 6th week of pre-marathon training for two and half weeks now. First I had some issues with my ITB as a result of my knee injury a few years ago when, riding my motorcycle, I drove my knee right into the tailpipe of DH's motorcycle (don't ask, it's a long, embarassing story, about which I am sad to admit there was no alcohol involved. Just plain ol' distraction).

Here's the dent I made in the tailpipe:


After that, my ligament was damaged for several months. I couldn't walk on my left leg properly for months, but I found a way to run despite the injury. I think I was doing about 15-20 miles per week with the injury.

Unfortunately, I ran by avoiding bending and landing on the knee at the same time, which completely changed my gait. So now my left knee is much weaker than my right knee, which results in me placing all my weight on my right side and now, with the loosened joints from pregnancy, the extra weight from being a bloated pregzilla, and overly strong right leg, things are just all whacked out. My new Mizunos help, though. And after resting for a week and consciously focussing on properly striding, things are getting better.

But just when I thought I was back on the treadmill, I got The Cold. The first of what will be many, many, many colds this winter, I am sure. It started off rather benignly but stuck around for a long time and turned into bronchitis and laryngitis and another meeting with my dear friend Zithromax. So I decided not to run last week.

I am determined to make it past pre-training week #6 and move on to my 15/5 week (run 15 minutes, walk 5, repeat once. Do it 4 times per week). I'm gonna do this! Or die trying...

By the way, Adam is almost over The Cold. Natasha is sick with a double ear infection. DH had The Cold for a few days, but he seems to be better. I no longer sound like a smoky jazz club singer...