2013-06-09 Ragnar Relay and Goal Review (MB)

Today marks the end of my 3 month focus on running. There is one more "endurance event" coming up, but I don't need to be in great running shape for it.

Here's the list I wrote on my post on 3/20/2012. It feels good to be able to check most of these off three months later.

April 7th: 8K Shamrock Shuffle [done]
May 19th: Chicago Half Marathon [done]
June 7th: Ragnar Relay [done]
June 21st: 36mi Rachel Carson Trail Challenge

When I began my running focus, I had barely ever run more than 3 miles. I am proud to say that after focused and disciplined training (and once my knee heals), I can get up and run 8 miles without much psychological trouble. I will return to running again, but my focus for the next few months will be on strength. The most important lesson I learned during this period of training was that ramping up your running mileage should be done carefully and with prudence. After battling a knee and achilles injury, I am determined never to make that mistake again.

My goal this time around is to be able to do 3x5 back squats at 300 pounds. My last effort with starting strength ended around 260. I look forward to crushing that number over the next few months with increased strength training and increased calorie intake.

Ragnar Relay

The Madison-to-Chicago Ragnar Relay took place over the past two days. I was slated to run 3 legs, each about 4.5 miles. I haven't run since the 3.5 mile race about three weeks ago because of chronic achilles pain that I felt while walking. By last week, the pain had gone away and I felt ready to run again.

While I was worried about my achilles, I quickly realized during my first run that my knee would be my biggest constraint. This is the same knee that began to hurt while I was training for the half marathon. I didn't do much mobility or stretching leading up to this race, and that was a big mistake. I was able to run my first two legs at 8:30 min/mile pace. Between the second and third leg, however, I took a nap and didn't move around much. After beginning the third leg, I started feeling pain in my knee right away. I didn't want to let my team down, so I planned on finishing the race despite the fact that the pain was getting worse with each step. Luckily, my van passed me on the course and I was able to get a substitue for the last 3 miles of my race. I was really upset about stopping, but I think it was the right thing to do.