Final, true, high mileage week before Indy Monumental Marathon

Ran my last true long run today, 22 miles. I knew after about 8 that it was going to be a difficult run. I wasn't running too fast, or too slow. I had a fair amount of fatigue in my legs, particularly my quads. I just didn't seem to have much energy for some reason. At 13.5 miles, I really wanted to call my wife to come pick me up and chalk it up to a bad day. I didn't NEED this run, I just WANTED this run. So I didn't call in. Bad day? Yeah. But not nearly such a bad day that I couldn't finish this stupid run. So I decided this was gut-check time. Struggle through it, and feel good afterward that I did, or quit, and wish I had at least tried to finish. At around 16 miles, I felt better, but still not great. At 20.6, I was right in front of my house. Hmmm, tempting. But I ran by it to the entrance of the subdivision (exactly 0.7 miles away) and back, and I was done. Whew.

Last week's 20-miler felt great, and I ran that at 9:13/mile. This one felt awful, and I ran it at 9:19/mile. Eh. Different days, different results. That's how it goes.

So after I run an easy 6 miles tomorrow, I'll have had (my first) 60-mile week. WOW! Next week, I'll look to run 40-42 miles, then begin my 2-week taper.

My one concern is my left knee. I've been pretty quiet about this, b/c I don't want to start sounding like I'm whining. But it's been sore the past few weeks, and I'm not 100% sure why. I have my suspicions though.

At indoor soccer several weeks ago, a guy took a bad, cheap shot at me from behind, and went straight for my left knee. I swear to God, I was ready to deck him! I got thru the game without noticing any knee issues. But then, it started to hurt, just like it does when you've torn an ACL. That makes me nervous as hell! Since then, the pain has flared up here & there, usually after I play soccer. But I've had no swelling, and when I go thru my strength & stability exercises from my rehab days, I can do them with no issues. So that at least gives me hope that I haven't (partially) torn it, and that it's perhaps just a sprain that needs rest (no time for that know though). That being said, this past Tuesday (soccer is on Monday), it hurt like mad! I had very little range of motion w/o pain, and had to cut my Tuesday run short. Each day since, it has hurt less & less. I've been icing it a lot, taking ibuprofen, etc. The forward motion of running hasn't been much of an irritant. I think the stopping, cutting, change of direction stuff at soccer does aggravate it. So I'm taking a soccer hiatus (which I hate to do) until at least after my race. Hopefully by then it'll be pain free, and I can play soccer again, and determine if that's what's causing this. If it is, then that'll be it for me & soccer. As much as I love to play, if I have to choose running or soccer, it's an easy decision at this point. The other possibility is that I have a case of runner's knee. The symptoms of that seem similar enough to what I'm feeling that I can't rule that out. And the fact that I can put in the miles I have lately, with no swelling, just some occasional, mostly minor pain, really leads me to think it's more likely runner's knee than a torn ACL.

Other than that, I seem to be OK. On Monday morning, I'm going in for a 1-hour massage of my legs. That couldn't be coming at a better time. I'm looking forward to it. But she might make me cry like a baby too. LOL.

I think I have all my gear issues figured out, just need to see what the weather will actually be like that day. Booked our hotel room. Great location. Literally about 1 block south of the start/finish. Now I just need to get there as healthy as possible.