tiba is a genius

Does he even know how much $$$ he could be making, doing what he's doing, in the states? Runners part with $100s per month for personalized coaching, usually for not much more than a couple of one-on-one sessions and a few emails. I feel very very lucky to have Tiba on my side, even if he IS 1500 miles away.

When I hit the wall attempting a 20-miler a few weeks ago, it took a new program from Tiba and some major slowing-down to get my strength back. he assigned 2 full weeks of recovery workouts, and this past week was back into the groove of harder and a bit faster. a re-cap:

mon. 8km
tues. 19km
wed. 10km @ 5:10pace (4:45, 4:55, 4:55, 5:07, 5:06)
thurs. 4x1600@7:55 (8:06, 7:40, 7:50, 7:55)
Fri.: 5x400x200 (i rested instead)
sat: 32km

Although those workouts don't look too grueling, it was my first week with a "tempo" run (the 10km) and it felt great to really dig into some speed and distance at the same time again. By the time I got to friday, something inside me (specifically, my digestive system) told me that i needed another rest day before the 32km, so i just took it. I was hanging out near a toilet the whole day. I blame all the fruits and veggies i couldn't get enough of form my local farmer's market on wednesday and thursday...

So, yesterday's big 20-miler started out ok, although I started out late just in case the GI problems from the day before weren't finished. All was fine, but the late start meant i would be running in mid-day heat, so i changed my plan to include 4 home-stops. This was a great idea, because on each loop i used all 17 oz of fluid which i carried. I also ate 2 little shots of honey and PB, but i think that in the future i will go back to just honey. the PB was a bit heavy.

by mile 14 or so, i was hurting. my left hip/leg continues to give me problems, and i started taking full advantage of all stoplight breaks with stretching and waiting as long as possible. I knew I would finish, but i'm sure my stride and my face revealed everything about how i was feeling. I blame the health issues rom the day before, the heat, and the hard week of training. Remember, too, that I just did a 19miler last saturday (which felt great, by the way.) I slowed way down, and my last two 5-km legs were each 35 minutes long. ha! bu, i am very VERY glad that I did it all.

my hip has a dull ache which hurts sometimes constantly and sometimes only when there is both weight and twisting/rotating motion. it worries me. last night i couldn't sleep because of it (it felt like gorwing pains), but this morning it feels much better. I might have Slava ask tiba about it. sometimes the pain radiates down my leg and feels like it's concentrated in my lower calf/shin. strange.

I think that this week marks the beginning of a taper. although I have terrible memories of my taper before the mazatlan marathon of 06, (bloating, excess energy, wacky appetite, etc), I'm hoping that this time i'm able to handle myself better. everything gets easier with experience, right? i hope so!!!