Hi Coach Jay,
I just ran my first 25k and Chicago is going to be my first marathon. I have recently had some problems with shin splints in my right leg. I have been icing and holding back on runs. My doctor confirmed that it is not a stress fracture. Do you have any advice in how I should attack my training? My fear is that I will push too hard and it will become a stress fracture or that I will not train enough and be miserable for the run!

Thank you,
Stacy

Stacy -
Chicago is a great goal and because you still have 16 weeks to prepare for the race, I think it should remain your goal, yet you need to get creative with your training. What do I mean? For the next 4-6 weeks you need to find ways to get an aerobic stimulus without putting too much stress on your lower legs. Biking, swimming, pool running and the eliptical machine are all good options and you should consider taking your training schedule and inserting these activities for your easy/maintenance runs. I know you don't want to hear this, but if you can gain aerobic fitness in the next 4-6 weeks, then you have time to ramp up your weekly long run and then 4 weeks out from Chicago you can evaluate where you are.

But if you want to take this a step further you can do a circuit workout. Simply take exercises from the General Strength videos and use those as the "recovery" portion of the following workout. At a local track you can run 800m at 10k pace, jog 100m easy, then do 1-2 minutes of exercises from our videos, jog another 100m easy, then run 800m at 10k pace. If you did five 800's you'd run 2.5 miles, yet the workout will be much longer than if you had run 2.5 miles at 10k pace. What exercises can you do? The first day simply complete the Pedestal Routine for 30-60 seconds and then exercises from the Myrtl Routine. Your heart rate will come down a bit, but not nearly as much as if you simply jogged the recovery. And there is nothing magic about the workout above; I assign them to the athletes I work with once every 10-20 days because it's a great way to get a long workout with less pounding on the body.

Good luck Stacy and remember that you've got time, especially if you're willing to get aerobically fit via non-running activities.

Hi Coach Jay!
I am a 47 year old female who is in excellent health. In late February, I suffered from a stress fracture of the tibia due to overtraining and a biometric issue. The stress fracture was confirmed by an MRI in early March. Nothing complicated—pretty much textbook. The back story is I ran four marathons within a year, then started doing speed training when the injury occurred (and I didn't listen to my body and kept running—not smart!). I ended up on crutches for two weeks and an air cast for 6 weeks. I was compliant during my recovery. A second MRI at the end of April showed normal progress and that it was healing. In the meantime, I have been cross-training (mostly biking) to keep up my cardio. I have recently been giving the okay to begin running again and have been fitted for orthotics. However, I'm hesitant as I don't want to re-injure myself. I've only run twice so far (two weeks) and have no pain when I'm running, but my leg is sore/inflamed the next day, so I back off a few days. My question is this—I'm signed up for Chicago, but I'm now wondering if this is a realistic goal. I would like to know what you think.

Thanks so much for your insight.
Cathie

Cathie,
I love the question for the simple reason that today as I was pushing my daughter in the baby jogger I was asking myself the same question, "Can I run Chicago? It's only 16 weeks away?" Obviously your recovery from injury is a different issue than my lack of fitness (coupled with the fear that I'll run too slow and let down the readership of this blog), yet I think there is an issue inherent in the "Chicago question" that we both need to address. What will we consider a successful race? Can you finish Chicago? Probably. Will you run most days between now and the race? Probably not. If you're willing to do some version of the ubiquitous walk/jog programs to finish the race, can you finish? Probably. Will you enjoy that experience as much as running the entire distance? Probably not.

And I'm in the same boat. For the first time in 9 months I've gotten 6-7 hours of sleep for a week straight. I'm overweight, yet I have time to run and bike more and eat less junk, and yes, drink less beer. But I'll be honest. I want to be able to run 6 minute pace for the marathon distance, and while I think that is a realistic goal for me, it's not a realistic goal by Chicago. And even if there was enough time for me to gain that fitness I would have to "red line it"—I'd have to lose a lot of weight and I would have to train hard, which also means I'd increase the chance of injury. You're in the same boat; you might be able to run the entire 26.2 distance by October, yet the chance of you getting injured is much higher than if you take the walk/jog approach.

So the real questions you need to answer is, "How does Chicago fit into the next 12-18 months of my running life?" and "Will I still enjoy the experience of Chicago if I walk/jog to complete the race?"

Thanks for the email Cathie and I wish you a speedy recovery.

Coach Jay coaches athletes at RunnersCoach.com and blogs at CoachJayJohnson.com. And don't forget, if you have training question for Coach Jay, email him here: coachjay@nike.com.

NAME

DATE OF BIRTH (MM/DD/YYYY)

EMAIL

Characters remaining: 500

No comments have been made.