Thursday, December 16, 2010

Maybe I Am Goofy


If you've kept up with my blog, you know I've been coming back from a right leg hamstring tendon issue suffered in the brutal 8 bridge crossing at Miami 70.3 in late October. I'd previously signed up for the January 8th & 9th "Goofy Race and a Half" at Disney World (1/2 marathon Sat./full marathon Sun.). I was pretty sure this raced was scratched from my early 2011 schedule.

Now, I feel there is a glimmer of hope that I can complete this event. I gave my leg proper rest and have eased back into running with no problems. I ran 7 miles last Sunday, a 5K speed workout on Tuesday, and today I ran 10 miles. So far, no soreness in the hamstring. Thus, I'm faced with a very short time to ramp up to the full marathon distance. I figure I can go for 13 on Sunday, 15 the following week, and 18 the weekend before the event. Ideal training? Hardly. My approach will be to take it easy, no need for speed, and see if I can complete this event. Given that I will not have done the traditional 20 mile run, I plan on doing the Galloway run/walk method. I've done many marathons (27), so I'm counting a bit on muscle memory, and treating it like a training run.

This decision is based somewhat on the fact that all seems to be OK with my hamstring. The other factor is that the good folks at Disney will not allow for a deferral. So, what say you, fellow marathoners and triathletes, is this a good idea, or am I Goofy?

3 comments:

  1. So you are the Goofy Challenge, back to back races, in my mind, thats a pretty hardcore race, I dont think your goofy, your a triathlete, aka the most stubborn athletes to walk the earth. Based on that, I will be more surprised if you dont do it, we are just wired this way

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  2. If your leg feels okay, you'll be fine. Speed will stress the hammy, not easy paced distance. Just run slow and long and I bet you'll be a-okay, just don't go crazy and try to do speed work too soon.

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  3. If you are going to be Disney character.... why not Goofy? Better than Dopey in my book.
    ps: Outer Banks NC (check the waves)

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