it was a day later than usual, but i ran the 18 miler today, which is quiet a milestone since it's the longest long run mileage that i'll do before the marathon. all-in-all it went very well. i had a little anxiety on saturday because my left leg/hip joint had started to act up again, but i doubled up on the exercises that my physical therapist gave me and things ended up feeling quiet good. for whatever reason, it looks like i may never fully get over the fact that after repeated use, i gradually lose range of motion in my left leg, which gradually leads to a variety of compensations that eventually lead to knee/calf pain. the good news is that if i don't get lax in doing the physical therapy exercises, then things clear up fairly quickly.

i felt strong the entire run, which i attribute in part to eating meat on a regular basis. for a number of reasons, i haven't been eating meat for a long time, but it's getting too difficult to get enough protein to repair damaged muscles on my regular diet. one can only eat so many soy products. it might be a bit psychological, but i feel like i can tell a difference in overall strength. i've also modified my carbohydrate intake in meals before a run to minimize complex carbs - sticking mainly to easy to digest things like banannas and fruits, which has also helped with supplying easy to acces energy during the run.

i also ran with some new shoes, which added to the overall great feelings during the run. i don't think i've reached the end of life of the last pair, but it's getting close, which is a little disappointing since i think i have only put 200 miles on them. i might need to check in at the running store and see if they have any shoes that better withstand the abuse that my frame will put on them. which brings me to an interesting point. don't start training for a marathon if your intent is to lose weight, because more often than not, you won't - or if you do it will only be a slight loss. i'm a large man - 6'4'' and nearly 245 lbs, and i haven't lost a single pound despite putting in some respectable mileage. my body composition has changed radically and weight loss wasn't a goal of running a marathon, so i'm certainly not complaining about anything. it's just that my shoes aren't reacting kindly to over 300 pounds of strike force pounding on them over and over again.

in any case, things are shaping up nicely. it's hard to believe that i'm also done with the hard part of training. after one more week with a long run, i'll spend a couple weeks rolling back the mileage to give everything time to repair properly before the marathon, which is on may 4th.

i really, really didn't want to do it, but i decided to run my 16 miler today. running 16 miles is tough all by itself, it's even tougher when you're really not into it. so i made a little game out of using this run as a test of my mental fortitude. all things considered it went o.k. the biggest problem was that i ate like crap [ various processed fish parts and some squash ] last night, figuring that i'd just run on sunday. no carbo loading means less stored glycogen in the muscles, which means it's easier to poop out. and given my experience with the goo last week, i decided that i needed a new strategy for replenishing my energy stores during the run.

fig newtons. i love fig newtons. packed with easy to process carbs with just a hint of moist sweetness. yummy. i wolfed down a half a dozen of them at around mile 11 with chaser of gatorade and it seemed to work pretty well.

so things are feeling pretty good. my left knee has started to bother me a little on the longer runs, which i think is due to the fact that my hamstrings are getting quiet a bit stronger and my quads aren't really keeping pace which tends to put stress on my patella. i probably should be cross training on a bike to prevent things from getting out of control.

after 3 weeks of 16 milers, it's time to add a few miles on to the long run. next week, the schedule will be 5, 8, 5 and 18 miles. hooooohaaaaah!

well, i got another 16 miler under my belt and i completed the full suite of mid-week junk miles. today's long run was easier and harder than last week. the good news is that i remembered to bring along some goo and it warded running out of energy. the bad news is that it is doing some horrendous things to my gastrointestinal tract right now. at about mile 14 i started hearing and feeling rumbings of the kind that strike fear into the heart of any runner, for it can only mean one thing - runners trots.

luckily i made it back to the house without having to dive into the bushes. i suppose i can't blame it entirely on the goo, since i ate a serving or two of pasta a half hour before the run, but now i have the rather unfortunate association made in my mind. the only other drag is someone decided that the gatorade and fig newtons that we left for ourselves at mile 7 was actually a gift for themselves. we've had this problem before and started to pick seeminly innocuous locations like churches and the like, but it doesn't seem to have solved the problem completely. i guess we should do a better job of labelling the stuff. a runners gel is hard enough to stomach, but it's even worse when you don't have enough water to properly flush it down the gullet.

next week, i'm going to keep the mileage exactly the same - 5, 8, 5 and 16 miles - so, finger's crossed, next week should give me a bit of a breather from constantly increasing mileage.

uh, huh. that's right. 16 miles. and a gorgeous day it was - probably in the mid fifties, which is quiet a change from the sub zero temperatures i've been getting acclimated to. 16 miles is a long way to run no matter how you look at it. things felt great for around 14.5 miles and then i really started regretting not bringing along some goo or gummy bears to help replenish spent carbohydrates, since fluids like gatorade only take you so far. at about 15 miles i started wondering if i was just going to run out of gas. i wasn't in any pain, just...out...of...energy. usually at this point, particularly when you're running alone, it's difficult to assess whether you're just playing a big headgame with yourself or whether you really will run out of gas. objectively it's only a mile longer than the prior week's long run, but that doesn't mean much when you're in the thick of it.

speaking of headgames, there's a dirty little secret that they don't tell you when you decide that you want to start distance running. you'll lose a toenail. or two. it doesn't matter how much space you have in the toebox of your shoe, a toe will inevitably get bashed enough to bruise it sufficiently to begin the long, slow process of getting a new toenail. it's not painful, but it can give you plenty to ponder as you pile on the miles. after which run will you remove your sock to find an unattached toenail? i thought it might be this run, but my toenail next to by big toe on my right foot is a real fighter. i suspect i'll lose it sometime this week. oh the joys of distance running.

i'm doing the typical post-run ice and nsaids and everything appears to getting back to normal quickly.

next week, i'll add a few miles to the mid-week junk miles and leave the long run the same. for the mathematically inclined it's looking like 5, 8, 5 and 16 miles for a grand total of 34 miles.

i suppose in the interest of full disclosure, i'll add that this was the first week that i missed a run, but it was just a mid-week 4 miler so it's barely worth mentioning :-)