Winding Down

It has been quite a while since my last post.  I’ve run many miles since then.  I have covered over 650 miles this year.  Only 13 days until the marathon.  I’m really excited.  It’s kind of hard to realize how much I’ve improved in my running over the past 9 months.

I was thinking the other day about the race.  I have played many different sports; track, football, baseball, basketball, tennis.  In each of these sports, you practice and prepare for maybe a month before the first game, match or race.  Then there is a period of alternating between practice and the game.  But I have been practicing (training) for over 6 months for one race.

This makes me rather nervous.  What if I’m not feeling well on that one day?  What if I get injured at the beginning of the race.  All that preparation would be wasted.  Actually, I know it wouldn’t be, with all the health benefits and improved fitness levels, but still, that would be a huge bummer.  It’s not like if I have a bad race I can just go out again a week later and have a good race.  Hmm…  I guess I just want to make sure I do everything possible to help myself have a good run.

I am physically and mentally prepared from a training perspective.  I have completed two 20 mile runs.  Both went well in terms of completing them.  One was much tougher than the other from a mental standpoint.  I have received tons of advice from other runners.  Most of it has been very valuable.  Also, running for Team World Vision has been a good motivator.

So with less than two weeks to race day, I will continue to run and make sure I have everything needed for race day.  Wish me well.

Mark

Week 12

Actually this is a recap of week 11, but I already completed the first run of week 12.  And with that run, I have logged just over 500 miles this year.  What a change from the previous 15 years!  I am definitely feeling much betternow than I have in several years.

Anyway, I had a difficult time sticking with the schedule last week, but did manage to go out for an 18 mile long run on Saturday.  The week before was 17, but I realized that I should be running the long training runs at 80% of my target marathon pace.  So, this weeks run was much slower, plus I got a later start (about 8:15 AM).  Let’s just say that things were going along well until I reached about the 15 mile mark.  I ended up walking around 2 of the last 3 miles.  I was dehydrated and in desperate need of fuel.

So, I learned a valuable lesson for the coming weeks, I need to get some gel and start using a sports drink on the long runs.  I was worried about today’s run, but it went fine.  5 miles in just over 43 minutes, which is where I should be in terms of pace.  This is a lighter week, so that should help me prep for the 20 mile run that is on the schedule for week 13.

Week 10

It appears as though I am having a bit of trouble staying focused on my training.  I let several other things get in the way of my normal run time.  So, I missed Monday’s run altogether.  Tuesday’s run (8 miles) ended up not happening until the evening.  I ran at the local track.  8 miles on a track is quite boring.  I ended up getting a bit dehydrated.  All in all, it was not a good run.  My time was okay (right at 9:00 pace), but here it is at almost 4 PM the next day and I still do not feel recovered.  My headache has gone away, so that is nice.

Well, hopefully tomorrow will be a better day and I can get back to my training.  According to the schedule, it is a rest day, but I will substitute with a light day instead.

Week 9 – Wrap Up

The ninth week of my training for the Chicago Marathon is in the bag.  I am now half way through the program.  Today was the long run day with an 11 mile run.  It was cooler and began to rain at the 9 mile point in the run.  I really felt good today and even with the last two miles being in the hills with the rain, I was able to run a 9:00 pace for the run.  Very cool.  I am excited about my chances at running a 4 hour marathon in October.

I am also excited because I got my first donation this week for Team World Vision.  Deciding to run for TWV has been a great decision.  It has really helped with my motivation.  If I hadn’t made that commitment, I do not think I would still be running, plus, I would have already put a bunch of the weight I have lost back on.

So, halfway home I am more excited than ever about running the marathon.  While I know it is early, I have already begun to think about what to run after the race.

Week 8 Wrap Up

So I have completed the eigth week of training.  Saturday was a 15 mile run, my longest ever.  It took just under 2 1/2 hours.  I ran it alone, so I was happy that I was able to keep running.  I averaged a 9:37 pace, which is the best I have done on a long run, but about 30 seconds off where I want to be.  Oh well, I will be pleased if I just finish the marathon.

Week 8 was the most intense yet.  Total mileage was just over 36 miles.  It went much better than I expected.  This week is a bit less, especially since I didn’t get to run today due to the weather and won’t be able to run tomorrow either.

Week 8 – Day 3

I didn’t get to my post yesterday.  Busy day at work.  The run was 4 miles and it was quite warm even at 8:30 AM when I got started.  I felt less than my best during the run, but I completed it in 33:40, which is faster than I usually run.  Hmmm… If I can run that pace for the entire marathon, that would be 3 hours and 40 minutes.  I would be thrilled to run that.

So, a good run as it turned out.  Also, that put me at 104 miles for July (personal best) and 403.9 for the year to date.  Wow, what a journey this has been.  It will be interesting to see where I end up at by the end of the year.  Today is a rest day, so I will enjoy the break.

Week 8 – Day 2

So today I had to complete my run early since I was heading into the office today.  I started the run at 5:45 AM, but didn’t feel comfortable running out on the roads I usually run on, so I just stayed in the subdivision and ran 6.4 miles.  That was four laps around the subdivision.  Boring, but no traffic.  The run was tougher than I expected, and I didn’t feel that great at any point in the run.  I guess that is why I need to keep training.

Today’s run also marked another milestone.  July is the first month I have run over 100 miles.  I’ll have to wait until the 31st to see what the total for the month is, but I can hardly believe that I ran that far this month.

Week 8 -Day 1

Week 8 of the marathon training begins.  I am nearing the half way point.  Today’s run was 4 miles.  I took it pretty slow, but managed to finish the second half of the run faster than the first half.  The 2 miles out took 19:40, but the return took 17:20.  The nice part of that stat is the worst uphill portions are on the return leg.  So it seems as though I should be able to get the 4 mile run down to under 9 minute miles pretty easily.  Wednesday is another opportunity for the 4 mile run, so we will see.

Week 7 – Day 6

Long run day.  The schedule called for 14 miles today.  Our planned route would cover 13.4 miles.  The run would take us to the highest point in McHenry county and cover an elevation change of approximately 250′.  Suffice it to say, the run took it’s toll.  I managed to complete the run in 2 hours and 24 minutes, which is about 24 minutes longer than what I wanted.

On the plus side, I completed the run, which also completed the longest mileage week in my training thus far.  Week total was 35.3 miles.  This was more in one week than I have ran during the entire month of February.  So, I would say the training is going well.

Day 5- Week 7

Today was a seven mile run.  Yesterday was a rest day, although I played an hour or two of tennis.  I forgot how fun tennis is (even when you aren’t very good).  I  will count that time as cross training.

So, today was 7 miles, the same as Tuesday.  I even ran the same route.  I can tell you I felt quite stiff at the start of the run, however, I managed to run it 37 seconds faster than Tuesday.  That made me feel a little better.  I run out of our subdivision and south on Maple St.  Unfortunately, that means I get the uphill portion on the return leg within the last two miles.  I guess that is a good thing for training.