Sometimes relationships don't go how we want. One party is in love and the other is just not having it. Maybe the relationship started out mutually loving, one party grows in another direction. SOMETIMES that move apart is temporary.

That describes my dilemma with the marathon lately. I love the marathon distance. The discipline, the planing, the training, the pain...I savor it all. So I put together 3 marathon blocks in a row from last August to this April. Unfortunately, I wound up entering 2 of those sick. The results did not reflect the work I put in at all. They make me seem reckless with my approach, which I'm generally not. That may be the most frustrating part of it all. I put in the work and have nothing to show for it. At least not on the results sheets.

Part of the reason I got sick was that I was over training. I kept my mileage high and workouts long through all 3 build-ups. When I finally did pull back into a taper, my body took that as an opportunity to drop my immune system and let sickness manifest. Rarely am I otherwise sick in training, more often it happens on my down time.

Going into Brighton last month was probably my worst sickness in 4 or 5 years! I got a cold the day I was leaving for England. My sinuses plugged and my ears wouldn't pop or drain on the 9 hour plane ride. Combine that with the normal jet lag of traveling eastbound through time zones and I was pretty miserable. By the time the gun went off to start the race, I had such pain in my ears that I hadn't slept in 32 hours. I was exhausted! By the time I got back to the states, I had lost my voice and nothing else was any better. I went to the doctor for the first time in 9 years, only to find out I had a sinus, ear, and respiratory infection and I would need a 10 day stint on antibiotics. It was 8 days before I got my voice back and another 2 weeks for my ears to totally drain. To say I felt terrible in the race would be an understatement and that was just a verification to me.

And on that note the marathon broke up with me...or I with her. I'm not sure who said the final goodbye. We both know we're bound for each other in the long run, but now is just not the right time. I need more time to mature and become a better caretaker; she needs time to forgive and move forward. We're two trains set in opposite directions for now, knowing we'll meet again when the tracks come back around to converge, both in a new place...a better place!

So what will I do now? Well I'll leave my training comfort zone! For the next 5 months at least, I will not run a marathon. I'll respect the distance I love and give her the distance she needs. I need to get a little bit of turnover back in these legs first. Over these months, my mileage will not be over 120 a week and even that is unlikely to be touched. I won't race over a half-marathon for a while. I'm going to reacquaint with speed!

If nothing else, this month is proving to be a really fun time training again, not so much just business. I know that in doing speed work, I may get my butt handed to me on some workouts (and I am). It's out of my element completely. Marathon training is all about maximizing efficiency IN the comfort zone; speed training is all about dealing with and mitigating discomfort. I plan to hurt some in training so I can improve those showings in racing. I likely will not race as often as I had over the last year, at least not in big races. I can use altitude races to advance my purpose pretty effectively. There will be big ups in my training and there will be big downs. One week I'll think I'm unstoppable and the next I'll sputter to a stop. It's what needs to happen. The speed will come back. It will. The strength from the marathon training isn't gone. It's here to help me convert some of this speed.

I hope to see all of you out on the roads this summer. Let's all wipe out our personal bests together! Lastly, a special shout out to Mizuno USA teammate Christo Landry for winning 2 USATF Road Championships since my last blog. Keep it up, young gun!

To follow my training and racing progress, follow me on Twitter at @runPRizzo.