I've had better weeks

This past week has definitely not been the best of my training so far. It started with my 12 mile run last weekend, which went well, but ended with some pain in my lower calf. It happened around mile 5 of my run, but wasn't bad enough to make me stop. After my run though, it began to hurt a lot more. Still in some pain on Monday and Tuesday morning, but thinking maybe it just needed to work itself out, I still went for my 3 mile run on Tuesday. Not a good idea. So I went to the doctor on Tuesday afternoon, who thought it was probably a strained muscle, and told me I needed to stay off of it for a few days. I was not happy about this because the thought of falling behind on training freaked me out, but I knew I had to do it. I skipped my 6 mile run on Wednesday, and pushed my other 3 mile to Friday. I was feeling back to normal when I ran on Friday, so I felt like I would be able to handle my 13 mile long run on Sunday.

Let's rewind a little bit to last week when I was buying my new shoes. While at the store, the lady who was helping me asked if I was using carb replacement gels on my long runs. She asked this in a way that notified me that I definitely should be. I had read about these when I first started my training, but at that point I was not running far enough to need them. Then I honestly forgot all about them. So, I lied and said, "Oh yes, I am", then headed to Sports Authority to buy some... :) So my 12 mile run last week was the first time I used them. They definitely did seem to help with that burn out towards the end of my run. My stomach was a little upset after that run, but I just attributed it to the long distance.

Back to this past week. I started out my 13 miles feeling good with no pain in my leg anymore. Phew. I had eaten some Clif Shot Bloks before my run, so I was all fueled up. Things first began to go downhill (and not in the good way that makes it easier to run...) when Marc and I couldn't find the point on the trail where we were supposed to turn around. Long story short, we ended up a mile and a half to two miles further down on the trail than we should have been. I was annoyed, but figured I would just take that into account and stop earlier and just walk the rest back to the car. And then the upset stomach started. I tried as best I could to tough it out, but it got to the point where I just couldn't run anymore. At this point I was extremely frustrated. I do NOT like leaving something that I set out to do unfinished. Marc offered to ride back to the car while I walked to the closest trail access point, where he would come pick me up. I begrudgingly agreed. We'll just say there was some definite door slamming as I got in the car. :(

Ok, enough Debbie Downer. Let's look at the bright side of all this:

• I was supposed to run 10 miles on my long run next week (drop back week). I did get in 10 miles this week before I had to stop. So I can just flip flop the two weeks and run 13 miles next week instead.
• I found out well before the marathon that my stomach does not like carb replacement gels, so I now have plenty of time to experiment with something else and see what works.
  
• There are plenty of other things to use besides the gels to fuel during a long run. Nancy Clark's Food Guide for Marathoners even suggests things as simple as gummy bears or Twizzlers.
• My husband is awesome enough to listen to my crabbiness while I pouted about not finishing my run.
  

I hope to return next week with a more cheerful report. :)

Miles this week: 16 miles (should have been 25, but who's counting...)
Weeks of training finished: 20 weeks
Total miles of training: 279 miles