Unplanned Break from Running

I went out for an easy run this past Tuesday morning, made it about 3/4 mile, took a funny step that made my right groin instantly very sore/tight, and decided to turn around and hobble home.  That run was really the final nail in the coffin for a season that quickly went from great to spiraling down over this groin issue that just wouldn't go away.  Rather than prolong the issue, hurt myself worse in training, or race a sub-par Broad Street, I figured it was best to take an extended break from running now and give my body a chance to recover.  I am hoping that taking two weeks off will do the trick, but if I need more time off or if I need to break down and go see specialist, I certainly will take what I think is the long-term best course of action.

The small part of me that is disappointed that I won't get to a chance to really blow one out of the park at Broad Street is balanced by the large part of me that is very satisfied with setting the three PR's in four weeks back in March: 35:57 10K, 17:08 5K, 1:22.19 Half-Marathon.  Plus I have gotten to see my training partners all run amazing performances at varying distances this season, which is really cool to know that we were all a big part of helping each other achieve greater things than we could do individually.

I would also be lying if I were to say that I am not in some way actually looking forward to a break from the mental and physical grind of daily/weekly/monthly training since December.  Four to five months is actually a long time to put your body through that kind of stress (lots of workouts/races/long runs/etc.), and it's not entirely unforeseen that something like this eventually happens.

When I do start back running, I am really going to hold myself to a few steadfast, non-negotiable rules:

1) Nothing but easy running for at least 6 weeks, and after that, just strides and fartlek-type sessions - no formal training for as long as possible to see what improvements I can make based solely on mileage increases.

2) Holding to a mileage level for at least a three week period, after which I will take a recovery week at 60-70% current mileage, before increasing mileage no more than 1 mile per week per # of sessions per week.  For example:

Week 1 - 55 miles
Week 2 ~ 55 miles
Week 3 ~ 55 miles
Week 4 ~ 33-39 miles (Recovery week 60-70% of 55 miles)
Week 5 - no more than 64 miles (assuming 9 runs per week)
Week 6 ~ 64 miles
Week 7 ~ 64 miles
Week 8 ~ 38-45 miles (Recovery week 60-70% of 64 miles)
Week 9 - no more than 73 miles, etc.

3) As much as possible, run without a watch.  The goal is to get in as many miles as possible while staying healthy, so the pace as which I run them is not as important.  Perceived level of effort is the determining factor - therefore, all runs should feel easy and comfortable.

The goal of this type of training is to see how many miles per week I can comfortably run without feeling my body breaking down.  Secondarily, I want to measure what type of improvements, if any, will I gain by just increasing mileage rather than intensity.  I may decide to try a small handful of workouts prior to a race or I may just decide to use races as my barometer of fitness.

If I can stay healthy and continue to build mileage (or at least find that peak mileage which I feel is the point of diminishing returns), I feel I will give myself the best possible chance of success when I decide to move back up to the marathon.