Run A Marathon Before You Die

This week is Week 8 of my training and I will be hitting my first 25 mile week. One mile and .2 short of the total marathon distance. I’m beginning to question myself whether or not I can really do this. This weekend, my long run will be 13 miles. Almost a half-marathon distance!

Today, I did an easy, flat 3 miler. Once again, I had a hard time breathing today because of the humidity. The rain last night and early this morning made it warm and sticky. Instead of doing the usual 3.2+ miles of the Fidelity-Berkman route, I used my Garmin to make sure I get it close to 3 miles only. I’m going to save some for my long run tomorrow and the big 13 this weekend. I finished in 27:33 minutes at about 9:10 pace.

After the run, I stayed a bit in the gym to squeeze in some shoulder workouts and some bicep curls since I still had some extra time left.

Tomorrow’s scheduled run is 6 miles.

I ran my 12-miler this past Saturday. We had such a busy weekend that I wasn’t able to write a post about my training. Today is already Monday and my calves are still tight and a bit sore from that last 12 miler. If that run was an actual race, it would have been a disaster. Just when I thought I was having a good, strong run, by mile 11, I hit ‘the wall’. My legs were burning and my calves were screaming. I just felt like I was out of gas and had to walk and jog the last mile. Even though I was only about 2 minutes past my goal time, I should not have felt that exhausted after the run.

I tried to analyze what mistakes I did or what factors may have contributed to such a horrible run. Not to sound like I’m trying to find excuses but I still have 11 weeks of training to go and it only gets harder from here, so I want to make sure I don’t repeat the same mistakes again and avoid putting myself in the same situation again and end up failing.

Here’s a list of what I might have done wrong:

• I did a tempo run on Thursday instead of a recovery run.
• I should have just done stretching on Friday (since we didn’t have Yoga) but instead I did kettle bell workouts. My thighs were sore during the long run because of that.
• Stayed up late on Friday after we got home from music practice.
• Forgot to buy and bring Gu gels.
• I did not run even splits because I was playing catch up with the virtual trainer on my Garmin because I didn’t stop my timer while waiting on the major intersections.

I think not having enough energy is the main reason why I struggled. I was already feeling tired even before the run. Now, I am beginning to understand the value of the ‘taper’ part of the whole training program. Yes, we had to stay late at church because of music practice the night before, but had I not done the things I listed above, I still would probably had enough energy to finish the run strong. I just need to be more disciplined and learn to save my energy during the week for my weekend long runs.

Nothing special today. I did my usual 3 miler at an easy pace around lunch time. Then after the run, I did some strength training. I did a quick workout for triceps and a couple of my favorite ab exercises since I wasn’t able to do those during yesterday’s cross-training session. Not to sound like I’m bragging but the Easy 3 milers on my schedule are now starting to feel relatively ‘easy’ especially now that the weather is getting cooler. I can feel that all the running I’ve done in the last 6 weeks have really whipped me back into shape.

This week’s schedule is tough. The miles are getting longer. I need to do 6 miles tomorrow, and another 3 mile recovery on Thursday, then do a 12 miler this weekend for my long run. I’ve learned that one of the toughest part of marathon training is finding the time to do your long run during a workday. That is why starting November, I’ve allocated some of my remaining vacation days to Wednesdays when I normally do my “sorta-long runs”. I also have to give up some of those late nights on the weekends before my long runs.

I finished my first tune-up race of my marathon training this morning. I did the 5K Race For The Cure and finished in an official time of 25:11, a new 5K personal record for me so I am happy. The race didn’t have mile markers until the 2 mile mark and I wasn’t wearing my GPS watch so I wasn’t really sure about my pace. I was surprised myself when I looked up at the official time near the finish and saw that I was coming in under 26 minutes.

The temperature also dropped down to a cool 60 making it a perfect race setting. I felt the effect of my training on this one because I wasn’t as tired and felt strong all throughout the race.

Week 7 of training starts Monday. I will be taking a rest day tomorrow. Next tune up race will be a half-marathon on Thanksgiving Day (Outback Distance Classic).