Countdown to 114th Boston Marathon

Countdown to 114th Boston Marathon

Just under 80 days left before the biggest race of my life, thus far. My training has been decent so far and overall conservative. I am well versed in getting injured and therefore I have been very cautious in the last few weeks not to "over do it" and yet I still managed a slight setback.
My right buttox appears to have been strained on my last 20 miler Saturday. This is an awkard injury and ironically hurts to sit as well as run... so what can I do?
I resourced my running team and found some great "Glute" (gluteus maximus) stretches that seem to have helped in the past few days.
Why so many injuries to runners??
According to Advanced Marathoning, "you increase your risk of injury when your muscles are fatigued, they lose their ability to absorb impact forces, greatly increasing the risk of muscle strain or tendonitis."
So shame on me for trying to squeeze in my weekly mileage late in the week with two longer runs back-to-back. Guess I tried to multi-task and have another son while training.
A recent Runner's World Magazine poll revealed that 66% of runners had reported injury in 2009. So I am nobody special? 2 out of 3 got injured last year?

If I learned anything form this injury it is that I was lucky it is nothing major this time and there are still plenty of days to train before "the race." I have re-evaluated and decided to alter my initial plan which was to run 50 miles per week (mpw)in January, then 60mpw in February, then 70mpw in March. Obviously asking my body to run more miles than it has ever run before is a recipe for disaster and can only result in one thing... injury. Therefore, my new gameplan is to roughly follow the Pfitzinger 55-70mpw, 12wk training program that peaks at 70mpw twice. However, most importantly I need to listen to my body and train accordingly. I watched the race from my computer last year and hope to run it this year.

I'm a father.. AGAIN!!!

Ryder Elliot Kahn was born last Monday January 18th, at 10:43am.
What an unbelievable feeling to be the father of two sons. I am writing this as I am waiting to feed him for his midnight snack. He was born a little earlier than we expected but we realize that he was right on time according to the watch in the sky.
He looks like he is already forecasting a 4 minute mile as he throws up the four digits on his left hand. :)
As I was spending a lot of time in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit this past week it sort of changed my perspective on reality and gave me an exact dose of what I needed. Everyone in there is able to witness the miracle of life each waking moment and through so many babies. I, like many others, often forget where I came from and how I used to be just as little as the occupants of those little beds in that nursery. However, somewhere along the way I began to impose my will on things when the reality is that we are not in control. You'd be hard-pressed to walk out of that place and not have a renewed understanding and appreciation of life. We are all miracles and God don't make no junk!

As far as my training during this past week, I feel that I have done well to get some running in and not fall out of shape entirely. I am still on track to hit 200+ miles for January while averaging 50 miles per week fo the month.
The real challenge approaching Boston is to up the mileage in the coming months and avoid any injuries in the process. I already have a soreness in my right hamstring/butt that has been sort of nagging me this past week. When its all said and done.. January 2010 wasn't about running at all; it was about loving, and I am truly excited to embark on the adventure of parenthood with two beautiful boys in Milo and Ryder. I pray that I can be both an understanding father and a loving role-model.