51 miles this week, with a complete rest today (Sunday). So that’s 51 miles in 6 days of training. And, yesterday, I did 13.1 miles, a half marathon, in 1 hour, 31 minutes, or roughly a 7 minute/mile pace. I did two strength workouts, one on Tuesday and one on Friday, again focusing on the core, hips, and quadriceps. I’m up to three sets of 4 minutes with wall sitting, a good sign that I’m getting more strength into the knee joint.
Speaking of which, I missed my acupuncture appointment this week – just too busy. With Kevin (my brother) leaving, two papers to write, and seeing the midwife with Rachel on Friday, it just wasn’t in the cards. I still have pain in the joint, but not enough to keep me from running. I stretch it out post-run as much as I can, and have fairly good range of motion. I’m beginning to believe that this is a condition that will not go away, one that I’ll have to manage as opposed to solve. As long as I get my daily run, I guess I’ll take it.
That still leaves a lot of work to do between now and this 50 miler at the end of August. To go from being excited about running 50 miles in 6 days to being trained to run 50 miles in one stretch is no easy feat. Locally, I’m thinking about a trail race (about 12 miles) on the 29th of this month – which might not happen because that’s our due date! Second, there’s a road marathon here in town on, I think, 19 June. I feel confident that I could be ready to run that, but not really race it. We’ll see. That’s the more likely of the two options, going forward. And it would be a useful training event – running 26 miles on 19 June would be a step in the right direction for 50 miles at the end of August. Again, there’s lots of work to be done between now and then!
That said, I’m very
pleased to pass along that “Veteran’s caregivers now eligible for VA benefits.” Starting this coming week, the VA will provide financial support to caregivers for severely wounded Veterans. I can’t say how grateful I am to have read that. Rachel and I attended a WWP event, well, exactly a year ago, in which one of the keynote speakers talked about the work the WWP has been doing in supporting this cause.
Headlines about successes like the caregiver support – that’s why I support the Wounded Warrior Project. I’m proud to be a supporter!
All my best & Keep moving forward, Matt