A Fresh Start - Let's Go Boston 2011!

I am in week 2 now of physical therapy. I am back in DC, so I am doing all of the exercises on my own, twice a day. It takes about a half hour to get through the whole set, so now I am doing an hour of stretching/strength work a day, which is a lot higher than it used to be. On Wednesday, I ran 3 miles with no pain. Normally, the knee starts to act up at mile 2.75, and there was nothing. I took Thursday as a rest day (plan is to run every other day), and then it was my goal this morning to do 4 miles. Got up, did my stretches, and then headed out. The pace was slow, but I got through 4 miles with no pain! That hasn't happened in over a month, so I was very excited to go that far (I can't believe 4 miles feels far again) without any trouble whatsoever.

The question I've been getting is, What does this mean for Boston? Well, Boston is just over 3 months away (April 18th). I wrote to my trainer, Sarah, and she sent back the follow reply,

I agree that you will need to alter your marathon training, but that is not necessarily a bad thing. Of course, you are still in a "testing" stage with running, so you shouldn't jump into long runs and workouts pronto. But, here is a general outline of what I think would be fantastic training:

Cycle 1: Focus on "base" training. Run 4 days a week, Cross train/strength 3 days a week. For example, Tues, Thurs, Sat and Sun would be runs. Sunday would be your "long" (whatever that is based on how your knee is feeling). At some point, we'd convert Tuesday and Saturday into hard workout days, but not in the first few weeks. Thursday would be just an easy run. Monday, Wednesday and Friday would be cross-training days with strength/core work after. If you could do "doubles" these days, I think that would be an excellent way to get extra aerobic "mileage" for the marathon. So, if you were able to swim in the mornings and then do 45-60 minutes of cardio (bike or elliptical) in the afternoon/evening that would be great. After the afternoon/evening session, I would tack on a 20-30 minute strength/core/stretching session.

We could see how that works for the first cycle and assess if you want to stick with this routine throughout the training or if you think you'd like to toss in an extra day of running. We could even try an extra day (5 days of running) every other week or so to be on the safe side. But, I think with even 4 days you'd be able to run well. I would also encourage you to do at least half of your runs per week on some soft surface. I am also thinking that we may just do track every other week, so you can do more road workouts instead, and the track would be a good check-up on pacing.

I bet with the new gluten free diet and all of the new strength/cross training, you'll actually feel really revitalized! Let's go Boston 2011!

Sarah

And so that is the plan! A lot of cross training, and we will do 12 weeks of marathon training (beginning January 24th). And as far as stuff with Celiac Disease - I had a biopsy on the 29th which confirmed the diagnosis (moderate to severe intestinal amage). I am starting the new diet on Monday (01-10-11) to coincide with the start of the new semester. A fresh start - they say that a year of being gluten-free will clear the damage. And I have heard people say that even within 4 weeks, PT clears IT band damage.

Here's to a fresh start - getting to Hopkinton healthy!