**APRIL 19th UPDATE** WEEK #11 COMPLETED

Hi Campers...

Well, week 11 came to a somewhat non-triumphant end. On Thursdays run I ran a downhill section a little harder than I normally do, and as a result I have developed some serious pain in my left ankle. I would have to say that this is the most serious injury of all, and it affected my run today (Saturday) pretty intensely. This is not your run of the mill "wow, my ankle is tight maybe I should keep an eye on it" injury. This is a "stop running, start screaming in agonizing pain because someone just stabbed your foot with a bowie knife" pain. Sharp, localized...VERY acute pain with NO SWELLING associated with it. I cannot figure that one out.

So all of that being said, I pressed on through Saturday's run. The first 10-11 miles were just fine. My ankle was tight, but not a problem. At about mile 12/13, it became VERY VERY VERY painful and I had to stop running and start walking. I did this a couple times over the final 4 miles, but there is some good news mixed into all this mess. 1) I did not run a flat 16 mile run today. I ran 17 miles with 2 miles of hills mixed in to simulate the marathon. It was a very satisfying "blue collar" run that despite the pain and the injury, once again, I finished. 2) The final 1/4 mile of the run I really did a gut check and cranked it up a notch. Nice long strides, finishing very quickly. So that let me know I still had some in the tank which is good.

As far as the injury goes, my plan is to skip Mondays short run and do some pool therapy instead. I will be icing it, using Ibuprofen and taking it easy Sun-Mon and Tues. If three days rest and recovery methods do not work, I will be contacting my running doctor and acupuncturist for some emergency intervention. The fact that there is no swelling is encouraging, and I think it is simply a small injury that needs rest to repair itself. If it wasnt, I could not have run 17 miles today. Simple as that.

So todays run was ok. 17 miles in 3:38:39 for a 12:51/mile average. That was with hills, walking AND an injury so I feel just fine with it.

This next week will be NO HILLS, a 8 mile run-walk, a 5 mile run-walk and very mild 16 miler next Sat. Total mileage will actually go down to 29, but that should be just fine and I am confident that I will be fine by weeks end. Only 3 more weeks of training and then I start tapering off.....

Mileage dedications for this week:

Mile Marker #14 - Cordell (my best friend and running buddy. I haven't got the words)
Mile Marker #15 - The Four Horseman. (no comment lol)