Monday, February 9, 2009

Business as Usual


Training continues.

I awoke on Sunday with more stomach pain*. I was amazed the pain hadn’t subsided. The pain seemed to come in waves but was much better than it had been the night before. I forced myself to eat some oatmeal and two scrambled eggs and drove to The Line for a run. I didn’t think I’d last a mile, but was relieved to be able to muster through 12 miles without any issues. I did stop and turn around before the rest of the group as a pre-caution, but all and all it was good. I was very surprised. I ran shirtless…now I’ve run sans shirt every month of the year while living in MD/DC. We had a huge group including 2004 marathon trials qualifier Karl Dusen, the “blue-collar” NYC financial analyst who is featured in the upcoming film BORN TO RUN (previewed at the Running Film Festival). Dusen is shooting for a 2:18:59 at Boston this April. Later, after being fine for the entire run, my stomach returned to the pre-run pain.

Due to my stomach I missed my cool down on Saturday (3 miles) and truncated my long run (12 instead of 16) so my weekly mileage was a bit off (64 instead of 70) this week, but this is fine. Although still not at 100%, the stomach is even better on Monday. I shuffled a very easy 4 this morning and will run an hour later. I really like running the morning runs easy. I feel refreshed while still putting in the miles. My legs feel surprisingly fine, but I plan to take this week easy with the exception of the Wednesday night workout. The weather is warmer and I even saw a high of 67 this week. In addition, the sun is rising earlier and setting later each day. I’m pumped to pursue the training, tick it up a notch and pound some good races in about 5 weeks. The entire GRC seems to be taking a step forward. I predict great things at Cherry Blossom for most, if not all, of us.

*Beer and soda are two things that tend to combat my stomach pain. This is sometimes bittersweet! The carbonation does something to my stomach and usually makes me feel better. Beer of course has carbonation AND alcohol. I chugged a beer after my race (when I realized I couldn’t cool down) in an effort to kill the tummy pain. I looked like a frat boy after some wicked contest. I then went to the after party and had a couple more drinks…but to no avail, the burning continued. NOTHING, but time, was going to make me feel better. I had the same issue after the Philly Distance Run in September…but in September it was worse. I also have these stomach pains after tough track workouts.

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