Final Approach

Week 18: 4/11/11 - 4/17/11 (race week!)

Monday: Didn't run - spent all day at the MIT 150th Symposium: Computation and the Transformation of Practically Everything.

Tuesday: At the symposium again! 11 mile run.

Wednesday: So the eczema flare-up I had last Sunday got progressively worse over the course of Monday and Tuesday, until last night I was basically lobster red over my entire body - by far the worst shape I have ever been in, ever. Given the fact that this was literally over my entire body, I figured that this wasn't just a case of eczema anymore, but was probably some kind of systemic inflammation, so I took some antihistamine and some NSAIDs and went to MIT Medical's urgent care this morning to get it looked at. They ended up prescribing me a 6-day course of methylprednisolone, so although this is kind of a sledgehammer approach, at least I can reasonably expect to finally get some relief after having been dealing with this bullshit more or less constantly for the previous 4 months.

Thursday: Started on course of methylprednisolone. Body still f'ed up. Didn't run.

Friday: Methylprednisolone seems to be having the desired effect, in that I no longer want to rip my skin off. Eczema seems to be healing up surprisingly rapidly (noticeable and significant improvement overnight), although it was sufficiently to begin with that it's not obvious that it will be completely gone by Monday morning. Fortunately, the drugs have stopped the itching/pain, and the course that they gave me doesn't end until Tuesday, so even if it's not all gone by Monday, I'll still be on the sauce, and hopefully it'll be enough to get me through the race.

Saturday: Eczema situation had improved sufficiently today that I did an easy 5-mile run this morning. No pain/discomfort. Had brunch with Garrett, Gustavo, Chelsea, and Tim at Brookline Lunch, and then Gustavo and I went to see a lecture by Chris McDougall and company at the Boston Public Library on Born to Run and pick up our race packets at the Expo.

Sunday: Still feeling a little sleepy from the drugs - didn't get up until 10:30. Did an easy 4 miles on the treadmill, and then did some laundry. Went to the BAA pre-race pasta dinner at 5:00 by City Hall.

Total weekly mileage: 20

Total training volume for this cycle: 698 miles.