Running out of Legs

Yesterday I ran what would be my final training run of this marathon cycle. An easy 2 mile warm up followed by a 3 miles at mp down to half marathon pace and then down near 10k pace. I cooled down with a couple of easy miles and that was about all she wrote. It was a dress rehearsal of sorts with me wearing my Chicago gear and racing flats. My adios II are some stiff shoes, and I hope they open up a bit on the 26 mile run. I have had no problems with the adios Is in the past, and hope that these things don't cause any problems. The last thing I need is a foot problem on Sunday. With 7 days to go I am going to be on a strict warm up cool down stretch workout plan for the next couple of days. I start carbo loading on Wednesday night and hopefully by then all this little aches and pains will have disappeared. If not, well.. You know it is marathon training after all. I am looking forward to healing myself for the remained of October. Its been a really long year with no real rest outside of a week here and a week there. I am sure my body will benefit from a good long 3 week reverse taper. Anyhoo. 7 days to go.

The Test

On October 7th I take my first step towards my goal of being a competitive masters runner. I know I will never be an elite master, or even a sub elite master at this point, but if all things continue the way they have been progressing I will definitely be competitive on the local level and perhaps even as a regional age grouper. Turning 40 in a year and two weeks affords me another year of training as a non masters runner and another attempt at the Chicago marathon next year, one week before my 40th birthday. When I decided to take on the marathon, I knew that there was no other distance that My training this year has been flawless. My two minor injuries came when I should have been paying better attention to my body and I have learned a valuable lesson from this. As I wrap up my first real season of training in 20 years (I started getting back into shape 3 years ago) I have a huge feeling of accomplishment and an even greater feeling of hope for the future. On October 7th my goal time is within my reach, but I recognize that 26.2 miles is still a great challenge. I am not putting myself out there to leave everything on the streets of Chicago this year, but to grow from the experience and work towards my greater goal. I know that endurance is something built over the years, and that the marathon will humble you if you do not treat it with respect.

11 days

Getting a little nervous. Mystery hamstring issue lingering, 3x1000 meters tonight @ around 6:02 -6:13 pace to shake things out a little bit. This will be my last track session. I will run a warm up mp thing later on in the week, but this is my last real track wo before Chicago. I hope and pray that I will regain 100 percent of my strength in my leg before the start. Marathoning is not something you go into feeling only 90 percent ready. Aggg 2 mile warm up felt pretty good. Ran with some quick guy who pushed the pace on me during the 2nd mile which was fine.. The track workout felt pretty good. I have so much energy right now. 2 mile cool down nice and slow. Everything loosened up nicely. I going to take off tomorrow, do some yoga and stretching go for an easy long run on Saturday and that is pretty much it. About 600 miles of marathon specific work in the the last couple of months.

Taperitis 2 weeks to go.

Went to the track for a little turnover work. Had 10x400 w 400m jogs between planned but trimmed the workout down to 6x400. My left hamstring is a little tight so I didn't want to injure myself on the first real day of my taper. I felt fine minus the tightness. Warmed up, ran the 400s @ 5k or faster pace, stretched a little bit and then cooled down on my way home. Easy, got my legs moving.. yada yada yada.

Best Week 71 Miles

Here is my workout for my 71 mile week 10 runs on 6 days with one mountain bike ride in there. M easy 6.8 N 1.5 mile warm up - Track 1200,1200,800,400, 1mile cd M 6.3 easy N 3.78 easy M 7.5 N warm up 1.5, 1 mile 300 surges, 1.5 cool down M 4.6 easy N 2 mile wo , 1m, .75 cool down M 4.6 easy M 20 miles, .25 cd In retrospect, serious mountain biking takes its toll on the body. I guess I was just trying to see how far I could take all this fitness. I think on peak distance week next cycle I will go 7 days on 11 - 12 runs and cut out the mountain biking, the 400 and 800 of my speed work and focus on getting a wee bit more mileage on my legs. I felt great during this week, but am sure I could build up to it a little better. The week before I travelled 2200 miles and had my lightest mileage week, but at the same time cramped up in the car, slept and ate differently and fought my way through the North Carolina humidity and a 30k. Better planning next year.

Taperasauras

After my 22 miler I took 2 days off to rest my weary bones and get control of a slight head cold that has blown through my household. I have upped my protein to 70- 100 grams per day, added 1000 grams of C to my day, cut back on my carbohydrate intake, moved away from the early morning runs, and focused on getting more sleep. I have a slight hamstring thing in my left leg that I am going to be careful not to make any worse, and a tight right knee that has been nagging me for the last couple of weeks. Last night I ran a 5.5 mile tempo run and still felt a little tired from Sunday's 22 (or my head cold), but all in all I felt strong and was able to play with the pace without any problem. The next 2 days are easy days, Sunday I will do 10x400s @ 10k pace and see if I have shaken my hamstring issue. I know that this is normal, but tapering makes me nervous. Changing up my routine has never been easy for me. I know reducing my volume will help me regain my strength, and heal some of my little aches and pains. My taper is really only going to be a full 2 weeks long, which I think will be just perfect. 16 days to go.

Taper Time

I just uploaded my last big run to garmin connect for this marathon cycle. 22 miles for the day with 20 of them run progressively starting from sub MP +10% 8:20 all the way down to my tempo pace. My run was fantastic, and I feel that I have done all that I can do for this cycle. My goal for this 20 was to break 2:40, which I did by a full minute. My confidence is running pretty high. I averaged a 7:57 pace which is a good 25-30 seconds per mile slower that my race pace, but well within my training pace for my goal time. My feet are done. I opted not to run the last 10 miles of this run in my racing shoes (adios) and to save my calves a little stress and strain. I am very excited to finally be able to say that I made it through an entire training cycle with higher mileage without injuring myself. This was my main goal of taking on the marathon distance in the first place. Now the taper begins. This next week will not look much different than my previous training weeks other than the fact that I am cutting 10 miles from my training volume, adding more protein and less carbohydrates to my diet and packing myself full of vitamins. I am going to run a light 3 miler tomorrow to get my blood flowing and aid in recovery from today's run, take a full day off and then jump into my taper plan. The hay is finally in the barn... Wow.

The End is Near

I have one more hard run before I taper. This Sunday morning I will wake up at 3 am and set out on my final 22 mile run of this marathon cycle. I have done all the work and am ready to cut my mileage back over the next 3 weeks and heal a few of these aches and pains that have built up in the last couple of months. After Sunday the hay is in the barn so to speak and the best thing that I can do is rest, keep myself hydrated, focus on my nutrition, keep myself loose and enjoy the fact that we have made it through a marathon cycle without missing a workout. I am excited to know that I have made it this far.

The Marathon Pace

For the last 8 weeks I have been building up my strength and focusing on becoming a stronger runner. Consistently running 50 -70 miles will give you the base needed to become not only a super fit runner, but an injury free runner as well. For me, being injury free this training cycle was and is more important than how my time in Chicago pans out. I have never been able to successfully build up mileage without having to take a break to nurse some injury. With only one more week of hard training to go I think its safe to say that I have reached that goal with flying colors. The month of September is my month to finish off what I started, by fine tuning my nutrition, my sleep, my hydration and my running sharpness. My children have gone back to school, we are successfully getting into bed before 9 pm every night and we are not drinking any alcohol for the entire month. Its the these little things that I will draw from when I hit mile 24 and all I want to do is quit on October 7th. I am unsure of what my plan is for October 8th other than spending about 3 weeks in the regeneration stage of my training, been thinking about running a spring marathon if all goes well in Chicago, but that is something to focus on down the road. For now we labor on.

The Final Push

I've done the 18 milers, the 20 milers, the 71 mile week, the 60 mile weeks at above 90 degrees, the long and boring runs, the short and fast tempos, the 25x200 meter repeats, and all sorts of other workouts this year in preparation for October 7th. These last couple weeks I am going to give myself one little last push before I hit my final long run on the 16th of September and wrap this puppy up. For the next 2 weeks I am going to decrease my rest period and increase my mileage a tiny bit and my amount of miles run at my marathon pace. This may sound dangerous, but I am sure that if I am going to be able to fully take advantage of my taper period I need to push myself over one more mountain top. I want to know that I did everything I could have done before I allow myself to rest. Ah rest, how sweet that will be.