I have to remind myself that it's okay to be in the liminal space right now. The training plan I was following from LA Road Runners is in a taper week, this is race week, the race is on Sunday.
The marathon is 26 weeks away, and my coach has not published the marathon training plan yet. So I just need to chill.
Plus, my feet really hurt. I didn't realize my August mileage was 189% of my July miles. Too much too soon, and now I'm injured.
I was in such a hurry to get back to training after a long break (March, April, May, June) that I just overdid it. I pushed through nagging pain and little colds when I should have followed a periodization schedule.
I'm always quick to blame hormones for everything now, but I think this was overtraining. The mesocycle I used was 9-weeks without a deload until the last week. I followed level 3 intensity, which included a lot of speedwork. It was just the wrong training plan for me, especially since I'm not even running the Santa Monica Classic this year.
An endurance runner training for a marathon (like the Chicago Marathon) will typically use 4-week mesocycles to safely layer on mileage and intensity without burning out.
Macrocycle (Large): Your overarching, long-term goal. This is the entire 12-to-20 week training plan leading up to your goal race day.
Mesocycle (Medium): The specific 3-to-6 week blocks inside that plan (e.g., a "Base Building" block, a "Peak Intensity" block, or a "Taper" block).
Microcycle (Small): A single week of training. It focuses on daily details like a Tuesday speed session, a Thursday tempo run, and a Sunday long run.
The Structure of a Mesocycle
A standard 4-week training block uses a step-loading pattern to safely challenge the body and allow it to recover:
Week 1 (Intro): Moderate volume and intensity to introduce the body to the block's specific focus.
Week 2 (Overload): Increased volume or intensity to push the body past its current comfort zone.
Week 3 (Peak): The hardest week of the block, maximizing stress to trigger physical adaptation.
Week 4 (Deload): Drastically reduced volume (often by 30-40%) to allow the body to repair, absorb the training, and get stronger for the next block.
So what am I doing now that an injury has happened? Besides crying because I wish I had a coach to tell me what to do, I am backing off. Limiting my movement to only what is essential to my life, my commute, and my job(s).
JIEJUNJIE Vibrating Peanut
Massage Ball for Plantar Fasciitis, 4-Speed Portable Massage Roller for Foot, Neck, Back, and Body - Deep Tissue Myofascial Release Mobility Ball Muscle Relaxer (Black)
I am wearing compression socks.
I am substituting yoga and other stretching and strength routines for running miles. Still keeping the time set aside, but doing lower impact activities.
I tossed two pairs of shoes that weren't supportive enough two weeks ago.
My sister said, "Go for it. You do not have to stop running. You can keep running because movement is good. And you're not going to do more damage by running on it."
And she gave me some very concrete tips for addressing the injury and healing it. And I started putting those steps into practice. And It's feeling better. So all is not lost.
I don't even know why I'm crying. Maybe relief. Maybe I'm relieved.
When you're in a training cycle, it's easy to get hung up on the numbers and metrics. Our phones, our smartwatches, oops accidentally forgot my watch. All of our devices give us so much data now, and it's easy to obsess about the data. I was looking at a graph of my paces and yeah, just as I suspected, as I felt, my paces are trending down down down, I'm getting slower and slower, but that's okay, I'm getting older.
It's easy to assign some value to those numbers. But it's not helpful.
You are still a runner. You're still a runner. If you have a running practice, if you have a running routine, if you lace up and go out the door, and put some miles on your feet, you're a runner, absolutely! And you don't have to get faster and faster, you don't have to constantly be making gains. You don't have to be on a trajectory of constant improvement.
Sometimes, you try a different training plan. And the training plan fails you, even if you stick to it to the best of your abilities. We all stumble. We all stumble, we hit a stumbling block and that is a true test of your character.
How do you respond to that? How do you recover from a little stumble? My identity has become centered around running, being a mother runner. To such an extent that when I'm encountering resistance, when I'm feeling pain in my feet, when I'm feeling injured, instead of just quitting, my instinct said, "reach out to your coach." And I did, and I got some advice, and I'm following that advice.
And I'm feeling more optimistic now. I was feeling kind of down. I mean, I was not feeling optimistic before I talked with my sister. I was feeling like this whole training cycle is screwed. I had gone so far down the rabbit hole that I thought, "I'm not gonna be able to complete the marathon or the marathon training cycle. I probably won't do another marathon after this." I mean, I was really Putting the kibosh on the whole thing, for the future, for infinity of time, that's how bummed I was. My sister said, just double down on your ibuprofen, you're taking it. Warm up adequately, so you don't do more damage. Do some rehab before bed. Simple stuff, it's not rocket science. It does require some additional planning and care. And believe me, I wanted to skip it last night. I wanted to go to bed or chill watching TV. But I did it any3ay.
It's not a big deal, but just a little workout. 4 minutes run, 2 minutes walk, repeat 4 times. I'm switching from LA Road Runner's plan to Fit4Mom 10k plan.
I'm just gonna start on the easy day, the easier free day. For the 10k trading plan, I'm on week 2. I'm getting ready for the Bimbo Global Race 10k and Mission Inn Run 10k. So I see 10k's in my future. The training cycle is not ruined. I have a plan. And I'm feeling optimistic again. And I'm at the end of my warm up here. So I'm gonna just get into it.
