Marathon – Big Day or Big Disappointment?

As promised, I’m back for a post-marathon write up. The good, the bad, and the ugly. Here goes!

The Big Day

I was concerned about being able to sleep the night before the race. But it wasn’t so bad. For the first 5 hours, I slept like a baby. Then, I just wasn’t tired anymore. So I laid there for a couple of hours until my alarm finally went off.

Breakfast consisted of a banana and some oatmeal. Something that shouldn’t come back to haunt me later. Around 5:15, we left my brother’s house. Lots of anticipation here. Not knowing what to expect.

We arrived at the race area close to 6. I spent about 25 minutes warming up before the race, then they started calling us to the starting line. This is one of the smaller local marathons, with probably 300 participants. The temperature was 52 degrees when we started. A little warmer than my last few workouts, but still nice.

Great Start

The race course was set up as a giant loop that we ran twice. The first loop was amazing. I was right on track for a 4 hour finish. Feeling great and not pushing too hard. Breathing was very much under control. At the halfway point, I was very confident in my ability to continue at the same pace for another 2 hours. This was what I had trained for!

But Then…

But then, it all started. Shortly into the second half, I began slowing down involuntarily. There was nothing I could do to stop it. My legs just wouldn’t move any faster. What was wrong? Then, the headwind picked up substantially. Suddenly, it wasn’t nearly as much fun. I had taken in plenty of carbohydrates, so there was no way I should have been hitting the wall at any point. Much less, this early in the race.

A little while later, everything started to cramp. My calves, hamstrings, quads, groin, and even my right forearm. Why was my right forearm cramping? It wasn’t from fatigue. I never had problems with cramping during training. Not even on my 29 mile run. This had to be from dehydration. Dang! Apparently, I had underestimated the need for pre-race hydration and now I was paying the price.

At this point, the temperature had increased quite a bit. By the time I was about halfway into the second loop, it just felt hot. The side of the trail around mile 18 looked like a war zone. There were a lot of people pulled over, stretching and trying to work out cramps. Some participants were in bad enough shape that they couldn’t even stand up.

I didn’t have it quite that bad. For the last few miles, I was able to keep moving forward by alternating walking and running. I would run until the cramps started, then walk. Once the cramping subsided, I would run again, though not very fast. The last 6 miles or so was miserable. It felt like I was never going to finish. More than anything, I just wanted to see my family. The temptation to quit was very strong. But I knew I had to press on.

With what little I had in me, I kept moving forward. One step at a time.

At Last…

At last, I could see the finish line. I could also hear the roar of the crowd. As I drew closer, I saw my family cheering me on. What a wonderful sight! Then, two of our kids came out and ran the last 100 yards or so with me. We crossed the finish line together with an average pace of 10:16/mile. I almost broke down and cried right there. With all of the struggles of the race, this absolutely made my day.

After finishing, I could hardly stand up without everything cramping. I felt like I was going to pass out. It was hard to put my sentences together. The heat and dehydration had taken a lot of out me.

Truly Blessed

To try and cool down, I walked a mile. My legs were shot. The fastest mile I could manage was around 26 minutes. During the walk, I completely lost it. I couldn’t stop crying. Not because I was disappointed, but because I was so grateful. The race had really helped put things into perspective. Running is great. It’s something I truly enjoy and hope to continue with for as long as I am physically able. But the family and friends God has given me are worth far more than this. I wouldn’t trade them for a world record in the marathon. At that moment, I realized that I was truly blessed. So, in that regard, it was a wonderful day.

Recovering and Reflection

As I write this entry, I’m now 7 days into recovery. I’m past the point of everything hurting. My legs pretty much feel normal again. There’s a little residual fatigue, but it’s getting better by the day.

I had been contemplating the question of whether or not I would ever run another marathon. Had you asked me around mile 18 or later, I would have said “absolutely not”. But I should have known that my retirement from running marathons wouldn’t last long.

There’s part of me that really wants to make this right. I trained well. Aerobically, I was ready. But everything was derailed by a simple mistake. Now I know and I would like another chance. If I don’t, I think this will bother me for a long time. So I’m considering another marathon this spring. This one is more for redemption than anything. Then, I can revisit the issue of running future marathons.

For Now…

But for now, the biggest event on my plate is a local 5K that my daughter Gracie asked me to run with her on Thanksgiving. This one is just for fun. I’ll slow down a couple of minutes per mile so that we can stay together and make some good memories. Then, I get to enjoy the day with my family and give thanks to God for all He has done for us.

I’m not sure if I’ll write about my next marathon journey or if I’ll do this one more quietly. There still time to decide. But either way, if you stuck with me this far, thank you. It’s been a real joy for me. And I hope it’s been the same for you. God bless.

Week 26 (Almost There!!!)

I can’t believe that we’ve finally reached this point. Less than a week from the big day. My nerves are on edge, though not as bad as I would have expected. It’s more excitement than anything, at least at this point. Like last week, this week is part of the taper. So there won’t be a lot to write about, in terms of running. I think I’ll do the write up for the actual race separately. Anyway, let’s get moving!

Day 1

Alright, this is another relatively short workout. Just 40 minutes. I’m trying to keep the intensity somewhere between zone 1 and 2. Not super slow, but not fast either. Still easy.

All done. Average pace of 10:03/mile and average heart rate of 135. I could have pushed harder and gotten away with it, but this felt about right.

Today, Jennifer and I head to San Antonio for our daughter’s band competition.

We stopped in Waco for lunch. I’ve mentioned before that I want to be better about enjoying the journey, rather than always being in a hurry to arrive. Today was a good example of this. We planned to look around for a few minutes, eat quickly at a food truck park, and then hit the road.

As I was ordering my lunch, I noticed that a man and woman were sitting at the same table and talking with Jennifer. My first thought was, “oh man…this is going to throw us off schedule.” But then I decided to just make the most of it. It turn out that it was a father and his daughter. They live in Virginia and were in town looking at colleges. The daughter had played softball through high school, but had a pretty significant injury that may have ended her career. Thankfully, she has done well academically. She’s now looking at nursing schools.

We had a great visit and really enjoyed talking with them.

We then hit the road and finished our drive to San Antonio. It was really convenient that Jennifer has a cousin who lives there. So we were able to stay with her and her family, rather than having to pay for a hotel.

For dinner, we stopped at a local BBQ restaurant. Since I had eaten brisket for lunch, I needed something lighter. So I ordered a chicken quarter, sausage, mac and cheese, and spicy creamed corn. The chicken quarter was surprisingly large. Very good, but more than I expected. By the time I finished it, I was questioning my ability to eat everything else on the plate. The sausage and mac and cheese were great. The spicy creamed corn was good, but they weren’t kidding about it being spicy. Whew…it was almost spicy enough to give me the hiccups. We were in a hurry, so I didn’t finish all of the corn.

Anna’s band did an amazing job. Unfortunately, they didn’t advance past the first round. After Monday’s performances, the judges picked the top 12 performances to advance. Anna’s band placed at number 15. Too bad. But we were very proud of them.

Day 2

With no band performances to attend, we were able to sleep in. Normally, if I don’t set my alarm, I’ll wake up around 5. But today, I slept until 7:21. Keep in mind that the time change was on Sunday, so this was the old 8:21! I must have really needed the rest.

We sat around and talked for a while on the front porch, which was great. Then, we got away for a late breakfast or early lunch at a locally owned restaurant. It was great and I was stuffed! Time to head back home.

I had forgotten how bad the Austin traffic can be. It was like a parking lot when we drove through there. The fact that it gets dark earlier still throws me off. We started driving around 1 and got home when it was dark. I guess it was about 6 hours, but it seemed a lot longer.

Day 3

Alright, I’m trying a different workout this morning. It should only be around 30 minutes and shouldn’t be difficult. This one was suggested by a running coach that I’ve known for years. After a brief warmup, I’ll run 10 x 200 meters between 5K and 10K pace. In between each of these, I’ll walk for 100 meters and then jog easy for 100 meters. Then, I’ll cool down for about 5 minutes. He says this is a good way to put some spring into you legs. So let’s give it a try!

All done. That was great! The faster intervals were fast enough to be fun, but not long enough to be aerobically hard. Now that I think about it, my legs do feel a big springy. 😉 Thanks coach!

This hasn’t been the most restful week, so I was able to get a much needed nap during the afternoon.

Day 4

Another off day. This one turned out to be really busy. Normally, I work at home on Thursdays. But today, I needed to go into the office. Once I arrived at the office, I realized that I had left my work laptop at home. Dang. Back to the house.

This threw me off by an hour. Late morning, I rode with one of my former managers across town for a presentation to some potential customers. They fed us well. We enjoyed a good lunch from Babe’s Chicken.

After the meeting, we drove back to the office so that I could pick up my car and go home. So I more than made up for the hour that I lost by forgetting my laptop.

There was also a varsity football game Thursday evening. Every year, this is the team we can’t seem to get past. Their players are much bigger, stronger, and faster. So they’re not easy to play. Unfortunately, this game was no exception. We ended up losing 41-14. 😦

Day 5

Well, this is it. The last pre-marathon workout of the entire program. Just an easy 30 minutes, which seems like a rather uneventful way to wrap things up. But each workout serves its own purpose, this one included.

All done. Nothing noteworthy. Average pace of 10:47/mile and average heart rate of 123. As far as my marathon training is concerned, I’m finished. The work has been done. Now it’s time to wait.

Day 6

Just one more day to go. Today is fairly uneventful. I drove our son to a district band audition and picked him up afterward. During the daytime, I got a short nap. Saturday afternoon, I went to my brother’s house so that I could spend the night there, since he is also running the race.

I’m starting to feel sick to my stomach. Maybe it’s something I ate. Or maybe it’s nerves. Hopefully, I can sleep tonight. All for now. I’ll be back after the race with another entry.

Week 25

The taper starts, which means that this week’s entry might not be terribly exciting. But maybe I can throw in enough personal content to keep it somewhat interesting. I have to say that this is a welcome break. The last two longer runs were probably more mentally tough than anything. Physically, I could do them with no problem. But I found myself starting to think “dang…is this run EVER going to end.”

The question of whether I will consider doing this (running a marathon) again has been stirring in my mind. At this point, I really don’t know. The first part of training was relatively easy to fit into my schedule. For example, a 1-2 hour run isn’t very disruptive on a Saturday morning. If I start early enough, I can feasibly be done around the time my family is getting out of bed. But for someone with a job, family, and other responsibilities, fitting in a 4-5 hour workout is not so easy.

But this isn’t a decision I have to make right now. I’ll at least wait until I’ve finished the race and have been able to recover. Then, I think I can be more objective.

Day 1

This is strange. Something on the side of my left leg doesn’t feel great. I didn’t notice this yesterday, but started feeling it when I was doing some side steps using a resistance band. Stepping to the right didn’t bother me, but stepping to the left did. When I tried placing the band around my knees rather than ankles, the pain wasn’t there. Not sure what to make of this. We’ll see how it goes this morning.

Easier workout than usual. 45 minutes of easy running.

All done. Average pace of 10:15/mile and average heart rate of 134. The left leg didn’t bother me during the run, but still felt a little achy afterward. It feels like I jammed it or stepped wrong, which I’ve done before. I’m icing and resting it today. I’ll gauge how it’s feeling and then decide what to do about tomorrow’s workout.

Monday afternoon and it’s feeling better. Legs feel like they’re recovering.

Day 2

Today’s run is only 25 minutes. It’s hard to even remember the last time I ran for this short of time. How much can you write about a workout this short? Unless something really eventful happens, not much. The left leg feels a lot better today, by the way.

Alright, I’m all done. I almost feel guilty even saying this after such a short workout. It started raining midway through the run, but otherwise nothing eventful. After the first easier mile, I ran the rest of the time close to goal marathon pace.

Looking ahead, there’s a 40 percent chance of rain on race day. It’s obviously not a guarantee, but there is a possibility.

Day 3

Not much going on today. I did a core workout for runners, which may have taken 15 minutes. Something occurred to me. While you’re in the peak phase of training, there’s a certain amount of feeling beat up that you just get used to. Almost to the point that you forget about it. Halfway into the first week of the taper, my legs are feeling better than they’ve felt in a while.

Day 4

Marathon taper observation number 2. I’ve been feeling more tired than usual. Legs still feel good and the workouts are no problem. I’ll wake up feeling great. But then it starts to hit sometime mid-morning. By the time I reach my lunch break, I’m ready for a big fat nap!

Today’s workout is a warmup plus 45 minutes, on a hilly neighborhood route. For fall in Texas, it’s quite cold this morning. Around 32F. It’s cold enough that I’m having to wear a face mask, which I almost never wear.

All done. Average pace of 9:47/mile and average heart rate of 147. Even with the cold weather, I still managed to break a good sweat. Good workout.

Day 5

My brother, Mark, is considerably more of a planner than I am. He sent me a “marathon game plan” email with a pretty extensive list of things, some of which I hadn’t even considered. For example, sunglasses. I do most of my running while it’s still dark, so I hadn’t though about this. But I decided to go ahead and order a pair.

New running sunglasses. What do you think?

Tonight is an away game for the varsity football team. Last time we played this team away, the parking situation wasn’t good. There were very few spaces and we ended up parking at a church that was about a mile away. This time, we got there at least an hour before the game started and ate dinner in the car. Much better!

This game made me nervous from the beginning. We knew this team would be a challenge. Two years ago, they beat us badly. Last year, their team wasn’t as good and we dominated. This year, the teams are very evenly matched. On their first drive, they covered about 80 yards in 3 plays to score a touchdown. Not a good start!

They outplayed our guys in the first half and were ahead 22-13. One of our coaches was even ejected following a controversial call just before halftime. But the second half was much better. Our offense and defense both played stronger and ended up winning a close game at 32-31.

It’s interesting how much moving around warms up the body. It was around 48F the whole game. Running at this temperature, I’m OK with a short sleeve shirt and shorts, at least once I get moving. But it felt really cold last night. By the end of the game, my toes were numb! Enough for one day…time for bed.

Day 6

I almost felt lazy sleeping until 6 and not starting my “long” run until 7. But it’s only 7 miles and the weather is cold. So I don’t see any sense in waking up as early. Since I don’t have anywhere to be for a little while and this is a shorter workout than usual, I’ll be running on Bear Creek Trail in Keller. This is just a few miles from home. As far as I can remember, I’ve only run here once during my marathon training.

All done! Great workout. The only downer was that I didn’t plan the route very well. So I spent the first 6 miles gradually accelerating, but then spend a good part of mile 7 running uphill. Because I’m trying to keep the effort consistent, it slowed me down by about 20 seconds per mile. Oh well. Still a great workout. I had planned to take a couple of pictures, but my camera died before I had the chance.

Today, I also had chance to play and sing a few songs for a cancer benefit. It’s for the daughter of some of our church friends. I really enjoyed being part of this and was grateful that they were able to raise money to help with her treatment. There was a special guest artist who drew pictures of all of the performers. He’s only 19, but he’s been drawing since he was 2. I thought the picture he drew of me was quite impressive.

Day 7

Now I need to add one day into the marathon training schedule. It was written with the long run being on Sunday, which is the same day the marathon will be. However, with church on Sunday morning, I’ve been doing the long runs on Saturday. This leaves a one day gap that I need to fill in, one way or another.

I decided to do a workout, but to keep it easy. Just a 30 minute walk with periodic easy running intervals thrown in. It’s a 45/15 ratio, meaning that I’m walking for 45 seconds, running for 15 seconds, and repeating.

All done. Average pace of 12:22/mile and average heart rate of 108. Aerobically, it was easy and didn’t feel like I did much.

Our daughter’s band had a performance prior to them leaving for a short trip to San Antonio. They made state and will be performing at the Alamo Dome, along with a number of other bands. That’s where we’ll be early next week.

Final Thoughts

Another great week. I told a friend that I feel like a million bucks and a sloth, all at the same time. Physically, I feel great. But with the workouts being shorter, it’s still hard not to feel guilty. A week from now, the race will all be done. It’s kind of bittersweet to think about this. I’m really excited and looking forward to the big day. At the same time, it’s been a great journey and one that I’ll miss. Hopefully, this will be the first of many to come.

Anyway, that’s it for now. 25 weeks down and only 1 to go!

Week 24

I should probably apologize for not including any pictures last week. Now that the weather is getting colder, my phone batteries tend to run down more quickly. Last Tuesday, I was about to take a picture of the sunrise when my phone suddenly died. Oh well. I’ll try to at least get a picture of something this week.

So we’re definite in the home stretch. The nervousness comes and goes. At least it’s not always there and thankfully it’s not keeping me from sleeping at night. This is the last hard week of training. Here we go!

Day 1

55 minutes of running in the neighborhood this morning. There must have been some kind of storm last night. Monday is a trash pickup day, so a lot of people put the trash at the curb Sunday night. This morning, our recycle container is nowhere to be found. All up and down the street, there are trash bags and other miscellaneous items. In fact, not just our street. I’m seeing this everywhere I go.

Thankfully, I’m not seeing any property damage. But I’m having to watch my steps to make sure I don’t step on anything unusual.

All done. Average pace of 10:25/mile and average heart rate of 130. This might sound contradictory, but I’m trying to run by perceived effort while keeping my pacing more consistent. When running somewhere with consistent terrain (flat or even a loop with hills), the first mile is used as a warmup. The second mile is a chance to establish a rhythm. Then, I try to run each successive mile around the same pace or just slightly faster. In other words, I don’t want to run one mile significantly faster than the previous mile, unless this is a planned part of the workout.

Day 2

Heading to the Cotton Belt Trail for a warmup plus 60 minutes of running. Speaking of “warmup”, it’s quite cold this morning. Since yesterday was easy, I’m doing today’s workout as a “marathon effort run.” This just means that, after going easy for the first mile, I’ll try to maintain an effort that should realistically be sustainable over the course of a full marathon. Today’s route has a lot of hills, so there might be considerable pace fluctuation. That’s fine as long as the effort is consistent.

OK, I’m all done. That was a great workout. Mile splits were 9:48 (easing into it), 9:38, 9:09, 9:16, 9:12, and 8:58. Just looking at the numbers, it’s pretty obvious what the terrain was like. 9:38 was mostly uphill. 9:09 was mostly flat. 9:16 and 9:12 were rolling hills. 8:58 was mostly flat and downhill. Average pace was 9:19/mile, if you include the final .44 of a mile. For this course under these conditions, that’s probably about right. Keep in mind that the actual marathon course if pretty flat. So these numbers look pretty good to me.

Day 3

During yesterday’s run, one of the tendons on my right foot felt a little uncomfortable. Hardly noticeable after the workout, but it felt a little odd during the run. So I’m resting today. Too bad I’m blowing my 11 day Garmin Connect streak with 10K+ steps. But staying healthy is more important.

Also, I missed a week of weight training. Today, I did the cramp prevention routine that I’ve done before. Maybe this is because I missed last week, but I’m feeling more sore than usual.

Day 4

Better this morning. Since I’m doing Saturday’s mile repeat workout at the track, I’ll do this morning’s run in the neighborhood. But this is a different route with some hills. I ran this quite a bit last Spring, but haven’t run it in several months. Warmup plus 75 minutes. Each loop of this route is 1.78 miles, so I’ll just try to keep the effort consistent.

All done. For a majority of the workout, the ankle tendon felt completely normal. For maybe 1-2 minutes total, it felt a little weird. When this happened, it would go away. So it seems better than Tuesday. Completed mile splits were 10:33, 10:07, 10:08, 10:05, 9:56, 10:03, and 9:55. Average heart rate was 145. Good workout.

The varsity football game was tonight. It poured down rain the whole time. I thought we dressed adequately, but we still had trouble staying warm and dry. Our guys were up 44-0 at halftime. At that point, we had about all we could take and ended up leaving early.

Day 5

Rest day and I’m off work, so I slept in until 6. Other than running a couple of errands and helping to get the kids to and from school, I didn’t do much of anything. Tomorrow is the last hard workout of the program. Feeling nervous again as I consider how close we are to the big day. Heading to bed early in hopes of getting a good night sleep.

Day 6

Whew, it’s cool this morning! At least for Texas. Somewhere in the 40’s, but with lots of wind and 94 percent humidity. Not the most enjoyable combination, but I’m staying outdoors since these are possible race day conditions.

Warmup, 14 mile repeats, and cool down today.

A while later…all done. It was just me at the track for a good part of the time. The wind was crazy. Every time I headed north/northwest on the track, it was quite a bit harder. Like the other mile repeat workouts, this wasn’t aerobically hard. My legs just got really heavy for the last 2-3 repeats.

The rest of Saturday was unusually busy. Just a number of things going on as well as needing to drive across town to pick up a washer and dryer. On a positive note, our oldest daughter’s (Anna) band did well in the area competition and made it to state. They’ll be playing next Monday and Tuesday. So congratulations to Anna and the rest of the Birdville High School varsity band!

Not much down time today. Hopefully, I’ll be able to get some rest tomorrow.

Day 7

If I’m tempted to say that this is the sorest my legs have ever been, all I have to do is remember last week’s 29 mile run. While I’m quite sore today, that was worse. Considering everything, I’m actually feeling pretty good. Doing an easy 35 minute recovery run at the track.

Sunday afternoon, I was able to sleep for a couple of hours. By Sunday evening, my legs were feeling pretty good!

Final Thoughts

I must say that I’m relieved to have survived the hardest part of training. It was challenging. At times, it was actually fun. It was also satisfying to be able to reach new personal goals. But at this point, I’m ready for the break.

Anyway, that’s about it for now. 24 weeks down and only 2 to go!

PS. I actually took a few pictures this week, but my phone isn’t letting me share them. So I’ll try later.

Week 23

It’s getting really close. Less than a month at this point. Nerves have set in some more. A lot of over analyzing and second guessing my training as well as my pacing strategy. I’m really hoping and praying for no more physical issues like last week.

This week, I’ll need to shift some things around. We’ll have a late night on Friday and then a 29 mile run on Saturday, which is probably not the smartest idea. I’m not exactly sure how this will work, but I’m planning to rest Wednesday, do the long run on Thursday, and then do the 75 minute run on Saturday. Make sense? Alright, let’s get to work…

Day 1

My back still feels a bit sore and stiff today. It seems like it’s more the right side. I’ll go easy on today’s run and stop if there’s any kind of pain. Today’s planned workout is an easy 55 minutes in the neighborhood.

All done. No back issues. It doesn’t quite feel 100 percent normal, but it didn’t bother me. Once I got warmed up, I didn’t really notice it.

I have the day off of work. So what’s the logical thing to do on your day off? How about 2-3 hours of yard work? Yep. The back yard was in terrible shape. It’s supposed to rain this afternoon through sometime tomorrow, so waiting would only make things worse.

Plus, it gave me a chance to put our new weed eater to the test.

Well, I must say that it’s quite an improvement. Sorry, I should have taken before and after pictures. 😦 Anyway, that was enough work for one day.

Day 2

When I woke up this morning, my back felt 100 percent normal. OK, you know the drill. It’s warmup plus 60 minutes of running, this time at the track. Only, I’m shorter on time today. So I’ll just skip the warmup and run a slower first mile. Since my other runs this week are slow, I might throw in some time around my goal marathon pace.

Oops…I forgot my headlamp today and it’s really dark. Well, I really don’t want to be having to turn on my watch’s backlight to keep checking my pace. So I might just see how well I can do at holding goal marathon pace by feel.

All done. And dang. Great workout, but I apparently speed up like a madman when I’m feeling good. And this was the case today. Mile splits were 10:37 (warming up), 9:42 (establishing rhythm), 9:14 (close to goal pace), 8:31 (oops), and 8:29 (oops again). The mile I was working on was at an 8:22 pace. So running by feel alone might not be the best idea. Perhaps I could run by feel, but also set some pace alerts to make sure I’m not going faster than I should be.

Remember the cool fall and winter weather I’ve been mentioning? Well, we didn’t have it today. It was close to summer temperatures and 94 percent humidity this morning. That’s Texas for you.

Day 3

Still feeling a little sore from yesterday, I took a 30 minute walk and inserted a few easy jog intervals. Average heart rate was only 94, so it’s hardly something I would consider a workout.

I have to say that I’m getting nervous about tomorrow. That’s almost 30 miles. The longest drive to work I’ve ever had was 29.3 miles. All of the long runs so far have been in much warmer weather. Each time, I’ve made adjustments for the heat, as prescribed by the author of the program. Tomorrow morning should be cool enough that no adjustments are needed. So I’ll need to run around a 10:30/mile pace. This isn’t really fast. It’s slower than my easy runs have been lately. But it’s keeping this up for such a long distance that concerns me.

No use making myself sick about this today. Let’s just enjoy resting for now.

Day 4

I set my alarm for 3:30AM. After a very restful night sleep, I woke up at 3:36. Oops, I almost overslept. So I jumped out of the bed and started getting ready…only to realize that my watch actually read 2:36. Dang. Back to bed.

For at least part of the remaining time, I was able to go back to sleep. But then I just wasn’t tired anymore. It was officially time to wake up.

This is the day I’ve been morbidly curious about since I first started the program. For months, I’ve pictured in my mind what this day would look like. At first, I saw myself running at the Trinity River Trails in Fort Worth. Parking the car alongside the trail with a cooler in the trunk. Maybe running 3 miles in one direction and turning around. Back and forth until I had reached 29 miles. Then walking the remaining mile back to the car. I had even talked about my wife and kids meeting met for lunch afterward.

Well, things don’t always turn out as planned. The kids are in school today and I’m just running a bunch of loops at a local city park. Not the most enjoyable alternative, but it’s probably the most convenient. Very close to home. There’s a bathroom in case of emergency. As far as hydration is concerned, I can set up my cooler right along the trail and grab something to drink as needed. Running this loop around 30 times could be a bit mind numbing, but it’ll have to work.

As I mentioned, my goal pace for today is around 10:30/mile. I’ll start slower and see how it goes. If possible, I’ll speed it up. But it this doesn’t feel right, I’ll keep it slower.

Starting the run at 4:22AM.

A while later…done!

Actually, that was a lot better than I expected. I kind of eased into it and ran the first mile at an 11:19 pace. The next few miles were around 10:42. Then I realized that I could afford to speed up. My legs felt great until the last 6-7 miles. But even then, they just felt heavy. At no point did I feel the need to slow down. I finished at an average pace of 10:28/mile. Aerobically, it wasn’t difficult and I could have kept going for a while. Great workout!

However, I stopped to used the restroom afterward. In just a couple of minutes, I felt like my legs aged about 50 years! I can truly say that I’ve never been so sore. After walking a mile, I felt a little better. Then there was the ice bath back at the house. Miserable as expected. I did my best to keep moving throughout the day. Sitting still was the worst. Anyway, I will say that this workout gives me a lot more confidence about my ability to run an official marathon.

Day 5

Oh my. I think I’m more sore than I was yesterday! Normally, I’ll do a recovery run the day after a long run. But I don’t think I could handle that today! So I’m just taking a walk for about 30 minutes and throwing in a few easy jogging intervals.

My legs felt a little better after a few minutes. However, my shins were so sore that it made the walk less enjoyable. I can flex my feet upward without any pain, so it’s not shin splints. This feels different.

A few hours later and my shins feel much better. It’s getting easier to get around normally. Tomorrow, I’m supposed to do a warmup plus 75 minutes of running. At this rate, I think I’ll be OK for the workout, though it might be slower than normal.

Day 6

It was harder than usual to get out of bed this morning. I need to be back at the house by 8, so it’s time to get moving. As I mentioned, it’s warmup plus 75 minutes.

All done. What an unusual morning. When I arrived at the track, it was still dark outside. I let myself sleep until 5, but started not too long after. During one of my early laps, a couple of guys showed up. One of them set up a really big speaker on the football field. The other had a large case full of equipment. They sectioned off the inside 4 lanes and set up 4 tripods.

Slowly, more and more people showed up. They were all wearing jerseys with different numbers. But they were not high school students. All of them were adults. Throughout the run, I kept seeing different runners sprinting while a couple of guys appeared to be writing down their times.

It was a bit awkward. I felt like I was somehow in the way, even though they weren’t using the lane I was running in (outside lane). Several times, one of them would be standing around in the outside land and not paying any attention. So I ran around them.

I have to admit that this wasn’t a very enjoyable workout. Even though my legs were a tad heavy, it was physically fine. But it threw me of mentally. Oh well. At least I can check off another workout.

Day 7

Legs are feeling great today. Not really sore or heavy anymore. Easy 35 minute recovery run at the track. After a really hard workout, I’ve that it takes a few days for your fitness level to bounce back. I could tell this morning. Everything felt great, but I was a little slower than last week.

Final Thoughts

This was a lot better than last week. I think everything is on track and there’s really nothing I would change. Just need to stay focused. Actually, the bigger challenge is focusing on responsibilities other than the marathon.

Well, I guess that’s it for now. 23 weeks down and only 3 to go!

Week 22

After a long extended heat wave, fall weather has finally arrived! Most of my training has been done in the heat, so I’ve almost forgotten what it’s like to run in cooler weather. Looking at the schedule, there are only 3 weeks of harder training left. Then, it’s a 2 week taper leading up to the race. Wow!

Day 1

Oh man, this is really nice. 63 degrees (F) this morning. That’s 17.22 C for any of you metric folks. My legs are still feeling heavy from Saturday. Also, my lower back is feeling sore on the right side. So I’ll try to be mindful and hold back this morning. This is the same neighborhood route I ran 2 weeks ago.

All done! The temperature really makes a difference. I still managed to break a sweat, but nothing like when I was running in hotter weather. My average pace was 10:35 per mile with an average heart rate of 132. Two weeks ago, my pace was almost identical and my average heart rate was 140.

Day 2

A little cooler at 61F (16.11 C) this morning. Going back to Colleyville City Park for an hour of running, plus warmup. I’m still feeling a little beat up from the weekend, so I’ll keep it easy today. Man, I’m really liking this weather!

All done with the warmup, so here we go!

OK, just finished one hour of running. With the cooler weather, everything just felt easier today. I finished at an average pace of 10:07/mile with an average heart rate of 139. Workouts like this give me more confidence about being able to run a sub 4 hour marathon. But let’s just take one day at a time.

It’s Tuesday afternoon and it feels like I irritated something. Maybe it’s partly because of the residual effects from last Saturday. It eerily sort of reminds me of IT Band Syndrome. There’s some type of popping or clicking around my right knee. My lower back, right quadracep, right knee, right hip, and right ankle all feel a bit inflamed. Just to make sure I’m not making things worse, I’m planning on skipping my run tomorrow. We’ll see how it goes and then decide on what to do Thursday.

Day 3

OK, it doesn’t feel completely back to normal, but it feels better than last night. I did a number of glute, hip, and core exercises, which felt great. But it’s hard not to feel bad for skipping my run. Better to rest a little now than to make things worse and be forced to sit out for a long time.

Wednesday afternoon and walking feels fine. It’s just a little weird when I pivot certain ways. I think I would describe it as my hip joint feeling loose. So I’m doing some more hip and glute exercises, and then praying for a quick recovery!

Wednesday evening and there’s some improvement. It’s interesting how so many parts of the body work together. When one area is injured, surrounding muscles will often tighten up to protect the injured area. Right now, I’m noticing it the most in my lower back on the right side. It just feels a little inflamed. We’ll see what it’s like tomorrow.

Day 4

After a good night sleep, everything feels better. Not quite 100 percent, but noticeably better than yesterday. The scheduled workout is a warmup plus 75 minutes of running. Because the warmup has some strides (fast), I’ll skip that today. Instead, I’ll start easy and then maybe ramp it up a little. Or, if easy is all I can do without hurting anything, I’ll keep it easy the whole time. Here goes…

All done. That was better than expected. It started off nice and slow at 11:09/mile (6.56/km) and gradually increased. Each subsequent mile was faster than the previous until the last completed mile was run at a 9:35 pace (5:57/km). The overall average pace was 10:06/mile (6:17/km) and average heart rate was 145. We’re back to summer weather for a couple of days, so I’m sure my average heart rate would have been lower in cooler weather. Regardless, this worked out very well. No issues with the hip, knee, ankle, back, etc. Thank God!

After the previous issue with my back/hip/leg/ankle, I’m debating on whether to do the test mile on Saturday. If everything feels 100 percent normal tomorrow morning, I may do it. Otherwise, I’ll probably just run a few miles at an easy effort. The last thing I want to do is to make anything worse.

Day 5

Feeling mostly better today. Jennifer and I were able to make a date out of it. We grabbed lunch and then stopped by a couple of stores, before picking the kids up from school.

Normally, we would attend the varsity football game tonight. But the game was held last night. With this being a school night, we decided to sit this one out. It’s probably a good thing. There ended up being significant thunderstorms and the game was delayed. When I picked up Anna from the school, the storm was probably at its strongest. It seemed like we got about a month’s worth of rain in just a few hours.

Day 6

Alright, I’ve officially decided not to do the test mile today. Instead, I’ll just do a warmup plus the prescribed 7 miles. This time, I’m planning to start easy and gradually ramp it up to around my goal marathon pace. By the way, I was able to get a larger pair of calf compression sleeves. We’ll see how well those work today.

Oh yeah, it’s really cold this morning! At least for Texas. 42F (5.5C) to be precise. It’s also humid, so it feels colder than this. Alright, it’s time to get moving.

All done with warmup. I think I’m OK as long as I keep moving. Any colder than this and I would need some more layers.

All done with 7 miles. Aerobically, it was no problem. Average pace of 9:29/mile and average heart rate of 144. I used the same Garmin pacing field that I used on my 26 mile run. The only issue with this was that I think my natural running rhythm would have worked just as well and would have felt less forced. There were times I was slamming on the breaks and other times I was having to accelerate. Running by natural rhythm allows for any fluctuations, but doesn’t feel as mechanical. I’ll just keep this in mind for next time.

The calf compression sleeves initially felt better. But after a few minutes, my left calf and hamstring began to feel tight. I made it through the run, but it was uncomfortable. By the time I had cooled down, the left side of my lower back was hurting. It was because my left hamstring was so tight. Unfortunately, this was a day that was full from the beginning. So there was really no chance to rest up and recover.

I saw this Saturday morning and had to take a picture of it.

By the time the day was over, my back really needed a rest.

Day 7

Getting a good night sleep helped. My back is feeling somewhat better, though still less than 100 percent. I managed a easy recovery run, but slowed it down more than usual. My Sunday afternoon nap helped some, though I would like to be feeling better at this point.

Final Thoughts

This week was more challenging than usual. As far as I can tell, the issues were all related to using the calf compression sleeves. The company was more than gracious and replaced the original pair at no cost. Their reviews are overwhelmingly positive, so I’m sure that these are just great for most users. But for whatever reason, they’re just not working for me. And with so little time left until the marathon, I can’t afford to take any more chances.

Injuries like this can be demoralizing. You don’t want to lose valuable training time, but you really need to give them the time they need to heal. I’ll take care of everything and play it by ear. Hopefully, there won’t be any more issues like this.

I guess that’s it for now. 22 weeks down and only 4 to go!

Week 21

Last week marked a pretty significant milestone as I ran my first full marathon distance. I’ve been amazed at how quickly the body adapts to different stresses. Each milestone seems unreachable on the front end. But with some hard work and perseverance, the body grows strong and able to do more and more. Anyway, there’s still a lot of work to be done.

Day 1

The decision to take it easy yesterday turned out to be a good one. My glutes are still the sorest part of my body and my legs are feeling heavy. I don’t foam roll all that much, but I’m doing so this morning. There’s still some tightness that doesn’t need to be there.

It’s the usual 55 minutes at the track. I’m not expecting anything fast.

All done. Other than my legs feeling heavy, that wasn’t bad at all. Average pace was 10:37/mile and average heart rate was 134. Just right!

After hitting the gym for a weightlifting session, I took time to roll out some tight spots on my legs. They’re actually starting to feel somewhat normal again.

Day 2

This is hard to believe, but my lower body feels completely normal today. It literally doesn’t feel like I did anything unusual on Saturday. That’s a relief! Today, it’s warmup plus 60 minutes of running. I’m alternating miles run at an easy effort and miles around goal marathon pace. This week, I’m back on the Cotton Belt Trail, so there are a lot more hills to contend with.

All done. The hills made a difference. Not that it was too difficult, but it felt like a harder effort than on last week’s flatter course. Since I was going by effort for part of the time, the easy miles were around 25 seconds per mile slower than on last week’s flatter route. I have noticed that my ability to run by perceived effort has improved quite a bit. With just about every workout, when I run at what feels like the appropriate effort, my heart rate is right where it should be. I’ll take whatever improvements I can get!

Heading to the gym again to do the cramp prevention workout. Still adding some extra weight on certain exercises. Remember the knee pain I mentioned last week on the 1 leg squats? I didn’t have that problem this week. Feeling great!

Day 3

Still feeling great. Considering the injuries I dealt with last year, this is something I never want to take for granted. It’s the usual 35 minute recovery run at the track.

All done at 10:46/mile and an average heart rate of 126. Looking through my workouts from last year, I found another run at the same track. At that point, my average pace for the same run was 11:45/mile and average heart rate was 133. So this seems to be another improvement.

Day 4

As much as I enjoy picking up the pace now and then, I need to be mindful of Saturday’s 12 mile repeats that I’ll be running. So I’l be doing a warmup plus an easy 75 minutes. I’m running a hilly neighborhood loop today just to keep it more time efficient.

All done with warmup.

All done with 75 minutes. Average pace was 10:26/mile and average heart rate was 146. The pace felt comfortable the whole time. A few minutes into the run, it suddenly got really dark. Then I realized that I had forgotten to charge my headlamp. Being a street run, it was a little unnerving with it being so dark. But I managed to finish with no issues.

Our son has a choir concert this evening, so I did my gym workout on my lunch break.

Day 5

Another rest day with almost nothing planned. I’ll be attending the varsity football game tonight, but that’s about it. The kids will all be going to the game with other people. Anna will be with the school band, Gracie will be with a few friends, and Joshua will be with my mom. So Jennifer and I actually get somewhat of a date! It’s just a quick dinner beforehand and watching the game together, but it’s better than nothing!

Well, it turned out to be a very quick dinner. We picked up something from Chipotle and ate dinner in our parked car before the game. It turned out to be a good game. Even with our star running back injured, the guys pulled it together and won.

Day 6

Another mile repeat workout. 12 this time. I’ve been thinking more about the issue of pacing for my marathon. Based on my training and other paces, I can’t find any marathon predictor that doesn’t have me running a sub 4 hour marathon. Even if I use the most conservative predictor I can find and plug in my 5K time from April (I know I’m faster now), has me running around 3:52. So I’m considering setting a goal of just under 4 hours. That’s about 22 minutes slower than what was predicted based on my mile test run. Surely something like that would be feasible.

Why do I analyze these things to death? I did the same thing before my 10K last year and actually came within 1 second per mile of my goal. Anyway, I’ve decided to run the mile repeats according to what they should be for a 4:00 marathon. This would be a goal pace of 8:40 per mile.

OK, all done with warmup. This is a long workout, so let’s get moving!

Oh man. Just to try and stay out of other people’s way, I decided to run in the outside lane. About a hundred yards into my first mile repeat, I had to stop. There was a big tire in the middle of the lane! I’m guessing it’s something the school’s athletic program uses for training. I tried to just push it out of the way, but it was a lot heavier than expected. It took some work, but I was able to finally move it. Now, I wish I had taken a picture of this. Dang. I’m walking a lap just to make sure that there are no other obstacles. OK, all good. Let’s try this again.

2 hours, 43 minutes, and 45 seconds later…all done! That was a great workout! Total distance, including walk breaks, was 16.19 miles and total overall average pace was 10:07/mile. Average heart rate was 149, and that’s with weather being hot. I think the 8:40 mile repeat pace was a good choice. During the 5 minute walk breaks between each mile repeat, I tried to maintain more of a power walk, which was faster than my usual walking pace. All of this seemed more sustainable over a long period of time, which makes me think a sub 4 hour marathon just might be possible.

Shortly after finishing my last repeat, I ended up talking with another runner for a few minutes. By the time we finished talking, my legs had stiffened up considerably and felt really heavy. So the first part of my cool down mile was rather unpleasant. But it all worked out.

There’s still a heat wave that’s been going on for a while. Temperatures ended up in the upper 90’s, which makes me really glad I got this over with early.

Several weeks ago, I ordered some calf compression sleeves. This was based on an expert’s recommendation. I’ve tried these on several runs and something just doesn’t seem right. They’re making my calves and hamstrings really tight. Enough so that it feels like they’re constantly on the verge of cramping. That can’t be good. Perhaps I should have purchased a larger size. I’m checking into this.

Day 7

Woah. I think I’ve reached a whole new level of soreness. And there’s still a 14 mile repeat workout on the schedule. Can’t imagine how sore I’ll be after that one!

Legs felt really heavy when I started my recovery run at the track. They loosened up somewhat, but still felt really sore. After a hot bath, they felt better.

There’s nothing like a Sunday afternoon nap. When we were kids, we didn’t appreciate this at all. We thought it was unfair that our parents would make us take a nap. Now I get it. They were making us take a nap so that we wouldn’t bother them during their nap. Feeling much more rested and refreshed.

Final Thoughts

Almost all of my training has been in the heat. It looks like cooler temperatures are coming soon. What kind of difference will this make? Will larger compression sleeves make a difference? Or should I just go without them? There are a few questions to answer. But overall, this has been another great week. Not too much longer now. 21 weeks down and only 5 to go!

Week 20

Just a few weeks to go! I’m already starting to feel a sense of both nervousness and excitement about the race. Nervous because I really don’t know what to expect. Excited because this is a chance to accomplish something I’ve never done before. Plus I have 4 friends who will be running the same race, as well as other friends who will be running other races around the same time. But I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself. One day at a time…

Day 1

I decided to stick with the tradition that I started last week. 😉 So today, I’ll do my easy run in the neighborhood. This will at least save me a few minutes of driving time. It’s 81 degrees (27.22 C) this morning. Not terribly hot, but it’s been quite a bit warmer during the day. I read that the projected race day morning temperature is 41 (5C). That’s quite a difference! Alright, let’s get started!

All done. Feeling great. 10:33/mile with an average heart rate of 140. I’m trying to pick up the pace a little on these easy runs, while still keeping them easy. Basically, I’m still running them by perceived effort. But I’m trying to keep them on the faster end of what’s easy. Hopefully this makes sense.

Hitting the gym again on my lunch break. Upper body and some marathon specific core exercises today.

Day 2

I’ve decided to hit the trail at Colleyville City Park this morning. If you’ve been with me for a while, I used to run there on a pretty regular basis. But haven’t done so in a while. This probably the most similar to the actual race conditions of any place I’m running. It’s a concrete looped trail that’s relatively flat. If you go clockwise, it’s a very gradual uphill ascent for most of the loop. Then it goes downhill pretty quickly.

Warmup plus 1 hour. Today, I’ll do the same thing I did last Tuesday. Alternating between easy and marathon pace miles.

OK, all done. Wow, this was different. From the beginning, I felt like I was in a higher gear than usual. During the easy miles, I could hardly force myself to go any slower than a 10/mile pace. That’s not normal for me. Either my perception of effort is off or I’m actually improving. Hopefully, it’s the latter!

I hit the gym again over my lunch break to do the same cramping prevention routine as last week. Everything was pretty easy last time, so I added some weight. Nothing was exceptionally difficult, though the extra weight made a noticeable difference. I must say that adding weight to a 1 leg pistol squat was awkward. During the last set, the inside of my left knee was hurting a little. It was toward the end of the set, so I just finished up.

By the time I got back to the house, it felt normal. Just to be safe, I iced the knee for about 30 minutes. No problems for the rest of the day.

Day 3

Well, the knee still feels completely normal. That was strange though. Is it a bad idea to add weight to 1 leg pistol squats? It was only 20 extra pounds. But it made a real difference due to the nature of the exercise.

Anyway, I’m doing another 35 minute recovery run at the track.

All done. 10:53/mile pace with average heart rate of 127. Unlike last Wednesday, it doesn’t feel like I’m on the verge of cramping. Maybe I’m adapting to the new cramp prevention routine.

When you get older, print gets smaller. So you have to compensate. These are just cheap readers from Wal-Mart, with no effort on my part to be cool. I probably should get some legitimate glasses, but I guess I’m just being cheap. Maybe someday…

I’ve heard several runners talking about how meaningful their marathon experiences were. How it’s not just about the 26.2 miles of the marathon. It’s also about the hard work, sacrifice, and many miles run during the process of training. I would absolutely agree. This Saturday, I’ll surpass the 700 mile mark since I started training back in May. It has been a lot of work and there have been sacrifices made. But it’s been a great experience that I’ll always be grateful for.

Day 4

Call me paranoid, but I’m keeping it fairly conservative today. Somewhere between zone 2 and (maybe) marathon pace, but nothing faster. In fact, I may just run the whole thing easy. A couple of days before my 23 mile run, I overdid it. Consequently, I started my 23 mile run not feeling as fresh and rested as I would have liked. No major issues, but I think this is part of my my right shin was hurting for a couple of days.

I’ve been doing most of this weeks’ running in the street and on trails, and Saturday’s 26 mile run will be on a trail with a lot of hills. So I’ll run at the track this morning. Warmup plus 75 minutes.

All done. OK, I must say that 75 minutes of easy running at the track doesn’t make for the most interesting of workouts. Well actually, it’s 90 minutes if you include the warmup. But you get the idea. But it was still a good workout.

One interesting observation. Normally, I’ll get into a pretty good rhythm while I’m running. My effort level and the resulting pace will stay pretty consistent. Some miles may be faster or slower, but the trend is normally toward a slight acceleration over the course of the run.

Today, it was around the beginning of mile 6. I was in a great rhythm, when I received a phone call and a text message at the same time. Normally I wouldn’t even worry about this. But it was so early and they both came so close together that I wondered if it might be important. As I was running, I tried to unlock my phone. But my hands were so sweaty that it took work work. By the time I checked everything and realized it was nothing important, I had settled into a pace that was about 15-20 seconds per miles slower than I had been running.

Keeping my effort level consistent, I couldn’t get my rhythm back. Sure, I could have just pushed harder and gotten back to the same pace. But this was supposed to be an easy run. So I stuck with what felt natural. By the time I finished, I was within a few seconds per mile of where I had been. And if the run had gone longer, I might have gotten back to the same pace.

It’s interesting how the body can get into a rhythm to where running becomes very efficient. At the same time, the body’s natural rhythm can be interrupted. So I guess I’d better not be using my phone while I’m running the marathon. 🙂

Day 5

Rest day. I’m off work today. Nothing much to do, other than drops kids off at school and run a few errands. This was a tough call, but I decided to forego tonight’s varsity football game. It’s an away game. Our son (Joshua) has some type of band lock-in at the school and my wife (Jennifer) has volunteered to help out. I figured that this would at least give me a chance of getting some good sleep.

Our younger daughter (Gracie) went with me to look for hats. I’ve had my hat for over 10 years it’s time for a replacement. Afterward , we grabbed some dinner at a local Italian restaurant. Lots of carbs tonight!

Shopping for hats. No decision has been made yet.

The only challenge is that I’ll need to pick up our oldest daughter (Anna) from the school. So I’m going to bed around 8 and will set my alarm for 10:45. Then I’ll go back to bed.

Day 6

So much for that idea. From 8 until about 10:45, I was getting some of the best sleep I’ve ever had. When I got to the school, my timing was perfect and I didn’t have to wait for Anna at all. We went straight back to the house. She hadn’t eaten supper, but was so exhausted that she went straight to bed.

I went back to bed, but was never able to really settle down again. The saltiness of my dinner was making me unusually thirsty. So I drank more water, but then had to get up and use the bathroom. Then, I was really thirsty again. For most of the night, I couldn’t get out of this cycle. I finally decided to just to try and sleep without drinking more water. But I couldn’t stop thinking about the 26 mile run. Dang. I usually have no trouble sleeping. However, this was one of the worst nights of sleep I’ve ever had.

Of course, by the time my alarm went off, I was finally in a state of deep sleep. If it were a shorter workout, I would have slept longer. But with 26 miles and predicted temperatures in the mid to upper 90’s (F), I forced myself out of bed.

I wouldn’t normally do this for a long run, but I decided to run a one-mile loop at a local community college. You’re probably wondering if I’ve lost my mind, but there’s a reason for this. Yes, I understand the potential monotony. But this location makes hydration so much easier. There’s a covered area right up against the trail where I can set my water cooler. So whenever I need, I can easily grab something to drink and keep going. I’m filling my backpack reservoir with Tailwind Endurance Fuel and the cooler has 7 water bottles. If this turns out not to be enough, there’s a water fountain that’s only a few steps away. Either way, I should be covered.

My goal pace for today is a 12 minute mile. I’m using a new Garmin data field called Race Pacer 2 and am setting it to run a negative split. Let’s go!

5+ hours later…all done! And not a drop of water left!

Wow. That was interesting. Like I said earlier in the week, I think my natural easy pace has gotten faster. The whole time, I was having trouble going slow enough. To keep the pace down, I was having to insert more walk breaks than expected. I figured this would only be the case early on, but this never changed.

I started at 4:27AM. By the halfway point, it was still dark outside. It never was cool outside. Early on, it was warm and felt stuffy. When the sun fully came up, it felt hot!

My legs felt great until somewhere between mile 18 and mile 22. By the time I was on mile 23, they felt heavy. I had to make more of a conscious effort to maintain good form, good posture, and keep my stride short and cadence faster. But I made it. What a great feeling! At the very least, I know that I can run the distance of a marathon. Aerobically, I felt like I could have kept going all day. But I think my legs would have given out at some point.

The author (Jeff Galloway) of the marathon book I’m using suggests walking a mile after your marathon in order to minimize soreness and expedite recovery. So I decided to give this a try. Once every minute or so, I would run a few steps.

I must say that this really worked. While I felt sore afterward, I didn’t feel beat up like after my last 2 long runs.

Day 7

Much better night sleep than Friday night. I’m headed to the track for an easy recovery run/walk. On second thought, my left shin isn’t feeling quite normal. I had some pain with my right shin after the 23 mile run. This isn’t nearly as bad, but I’m still nervous about possibly making it worse.

Just to be safe, I’ve decided just to walk this one. A few laps and I’m done.

Sunday afternoon, and it’s feeling a lot better. In fact, it feels normal. My glutes, on the other hand, don’t feel normal! Oh man. This may be the sorest they have ever been. It reminds me of when I first did heavy squats, only worse.

Final Thoughts

Great week! I’m really happy about Saturday’s run. This is something I never would have thought possible until very recently. At the very least, I know that I can run the full marathon distance. How fast is a question that has yet to be answered.

Well, I guess that’s it for another week. 20 weeks down and only 6 to go!

Week 19

Day 1

It’s amazing how a little rest can make a big difference. Still feeling a little sore this morning, but nothing like yesterday. After two consecutive days at the track, I’m ready for a change of scenery. So I’ll do this morning’s run in the neighborhood. 55 minutes as usual.

All done. Feeling great.

I don’t mention this much, but I normally hit the gym on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. Today, I’m working upper body. Just trying to stay strong!

Day 2

Well shoot. The last two times I’ve gone to the track, the gate has been locked. This was the case today. There’s another track that’s just a few minutes away. It’s nice facility, but it’s right off of the freeway. So there’s quite a bit of road noise, even early in the morning. But that’s my closest track option. So I’ll just have to adjust and make the best of it.

Today’s workout is a warmup plus 1 hour of running. I’ll alternate between running a mile at an easy pace and running around marathon pace. This really shouldn’t be too difficult.

All done. I really enjoyed this one. It was fun, but definitely not exhausting. Overall average pace of 9:47 and average heart rate of 149. Not bad! Marathon pace miles all ended up at 8:56/mile. I wasn’t trying for the exact same pace, but it just turned out this way.

Today, I’m starting a strength routine that’s designed to minimize race cramping. This looks interesting. It should be done during the peak part of training, until tapering begins. This consists of two separate workouts to be done several hours apart. Combined, this is supposed to stress the hamstrings and glutes in a way that brings them close to cramping. I guess it helps you to build up a resistance so that you’re less likely to cramp. For what it’s worth, I haven’t historically had many cramping issues. But I guess I’m just trying to cover my bases.

OK, the first part of the routine wasn’t difficult. I’ve done weight training for years, so this isn’t bad. The second part wouldn’t have been difficult on it’s own. But being done a few hours after the first workout, it was more difficult. I didn’t cramp, but I probably could have easily pushed it to this point.

Day 3

Easy 35 minute recovery run at the track. My legs don’t feel heavy today, so I might end up running this one a little faster.

All done. 10:59/mile with an average heart rate of 126. Not that this is really fast, but it’s faster than the usual recovery run. Still feeling great! But man…I’m feeling yesterday’s workout. Even after an easy run, it feels like I’m on the verge of cramping! Well, I guess the workout is doing its job. Let’s just hope this translates into a strong race with no cramping issues.

Day 4

The Thursday run just got longer. It’s now warmup plus 75 minutes of running. So I need to get moving soon. This Saturday is the infamous mile test run or “magic mile”, so I’ll plan on running this one at an easier pace. If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you might remember that I did some of my earlier training runs at the trail of a local community college. It’s been a while now, so I have decided to run there again.

Warmup went well. Here we go!

OK, all done with 75 minutes. Great workout! Average pace of 10:40/mile and average heart rate of 144. Plus, I had a chance to run some good hills. It was interesting. Running early in the morning, I don’t encounter a lot of other runners. When I do, I try to be friendly and say something like “hello” or “good morning”. Some respond. Some don’t.

Today, around the end of mile 4, another runner was getting started. He was going the same direction and was running about the same pace. I said “good morning” and he responded. Then we ended up running together and talking for about 2 miles. We talked about God, family, work, training, diet, injuries, etc. He’s currently training for the Cowtown Marathon, but the Fort Worth Marathon (the one I’m running) was his first. He an electrician and also plays guitar for his church, like me (except that I’m not an electrician). Though he’s a few years older, we also attended the same high school and even know some of the same people. It was an unexpected but good conversation.

Then, he had to stop to get something to drink, so I finished up. For the two miles I ran with this guy, I ended up slowing down to match his pace. So maybe I ran a little slower than I planned for, but I think it was worth it.

On a side note, I think may have broken a toenail earlier this week. I started feeling it on my right middle toe after Tuesday’s workout. It’s not terrible, but it doesn’t feel right. If you’ve ever had a toenail break, you know exactly what I’m talking about. Don’t worry, I won’t post any pictures!

Day 5

Rest day. I’m feeling better than last Friday. There’s no football game tonight, so I should be able to get in bed at a decent hour.

Day 6

Almost 7 1/2 hours of sleep last night. That’s not bad! Feeling well rested this morning. It’s time to hit the road.

All done with warmup. I ran this one a little faster than usual. For future warmups, I should probably ease into them just little more.

OK, I can’t put this off any longer. It’s time for the “magic mile.”

All done. Like last time, I didn’t look at the pace on my watch at all. Just the distance. Something seemed different. When I reached the halfway point, I felt surprisingly good. At no point did I feel like I was dying or that I was unable to run any faster. I finished strong and felt like I had quite a bit left in the tank. Dang, that’s not what I wanted!!

6:37. I didn’t pace myself very well on this one. Well maybe I should at least look at the pace periodically. Oh well. Still a good workout. On the positive side, I can still see some improvement. On my original mile test run before I started the marathon program, I finished at 6:35. That was on flat terrain. By the time I finished my arms were numb and I felt like I was on the verge of death!

Today was mostly uphill. It felt more like a “controlled fast” pace. I felt great the whole time. At no point did it feel like I was dying or on the verge of a serious injury. So I know I could have run this one faster, which may bug me for a while, but that’s OK.

The 6 mile easy run went well. Average pace was 10:45/mile with an average heart rate of 149. Because I ran the test mile easier than usual, I’m not feeling beat up. At least this should make for a more enjoyable run on Monday.

Day 7

Well, maybe I spoke a little too soon. My legs are feeling somewhat beat up this morning. Nothing compared to the past couple of weeks, but beat up nonetheless. A little better after my 35 minute recovery run/walk at the track. I was able to get a pretty good nap Sunday afternoon. Feeling nice and recharged!

Joshua and me before church. I should have waited another 30 seconds, as Gracie also came outside.

Final Thoughts

Another good week. Other than the mile mishap on Saturday, everything went according to plan. Some of my runner friends keep telling me that I’ll speed up when the weather gets cooler. As of now, the hot summer weather is hanging on , so we’ll see what happens when it cools down. I guess that’s is for this week. 19 weeks down and only 7 to go!

Week 18

Well here we are. Just one day later and the shin feels a lot better. This Saturday will be another mile repeat workout. This time, it’s 10 mile repeats. So I’ll be doing the other runs at an easy effort. This should help ensure that I’m not aggravating the shin and also that I’m properly recovered from everything else. Time to get to work!

Day 1

As much as I don’t enjoying being injured, I will say that having to deal with occasional injuries helps me to be more grateful for being healthy. Otherwise, I tend to take it for granted. Today, I feel great. I’m still playing it safe, so this run may be slower than usual.

It’s another 55 minute run at the track.

All done. No pain at all. The high school cross country team showed up when I had about a mile to go. Why do I tend to feel self conscious running in front of high school kids? They’re probably just as insure around me. Regardless, I finished out. Before leaving, I had a brief conversation with the cross country and track coach. He made reference to last year when I used to run at the track with a metronome. He also said that a specialist had prescribed the same thing for one of his students whose running cadence was too slow. Very interesting.

Heading back to the house for breakfast and for work.

Day 2

For some reason, the easier weeks seem to be less exciting. Recovery (both active and resting) is an essential part of training, but it doesn’t make for a very interesting write-up. Today, I’m on the trail doing a warmup plus easy 50 minute run.

All done. Good workout. Not fast, but about 45 seconds per mile faster than yesterday. Shin still feels normal. I’ve been using a timer on my phone to let me know when I’ve reached the halfway point, so that I’ll know it’s time to turn around. For some reason, I ended up using the 55 minute timer. I also took a detour on the way back. So I probably finished the workout about a mile from where I started and “unofficially” ran the rest of the way.

Day 3

This morning was a 35 minute recovery run at the track. A few people have commented on me losing weight. This hasn’t been intentional. But it be a challenge to eat enough calories to make up for this much running. For what it’s worth, maintaining a good weight has always been the hardest part for me. Gaining or losing weight is pretty easy. Once I start going in either direction, it’s hard to stop. So I’m being purposeful about getting enough to eat, without going overboard. I’m OK right now, but would rather maintain than continue to lose weight.

Day 4

Now that the Thursday runs are getting longer, it’s becoming more of a challenge to make it to work on time. Today, it’s a warmup plus 65 minutes of easy running. Generally, the warmup takes about 15 minutes. So it’s around 80 minute of running. Starting next week, I’ll add 10 more minutes to this workout. Anyway, I need to get moving, so that I’m not late!

All done. 10:36/mile pace and average heart rate of 141. Easy enough, but still enjoyable. Feeling great!

Day 5

If I haven’t mentioned my age recently, I’m 46. It’s always strange hearing people 10-15 years younger than me talking about feeling old. But when I was in my early 30’s, I felt terrible. Always tired, everything hurt, etc. Losing the extra weight, eating better, and exercise have made a tremendous difference. I feel so much better and younger.

But there is one possible effect of aging that I will concede to. I don’t like sitting for long periods of time with my legs stuck in the bent position. My knees don’t like it. This is rarely an issue. In almost every situation (work, church, restaurants, in the car, at sporting events, etc.), I can stretch my legs out enough that it doesn’t bother me. But last night was one of those rare exceptions.

We attended a band event at the high school. Our oldest daughter (Anna) plays for the high school and our son (Joshua) plays for the middle school. This is an annual event that involves the bands from two middle schools and from the high school. They’ll have the the middle school kids play a few songs they recently learned. Then, the high school kids will play a few of their songs. Finally, all of the bands play together. It’s a lot of fun.

We first attended this event when Anna was in the 7th grade. Now, she’s a junior in high school and Joshua is in 7th grade. We were very proud of the kids, but it was pretty emotional for all of us. My dad was there for the first one, and now he’s no longer with us. Mom always talks about how proud dad would be and how much he would enjoy hearing the kids play together.

They do all of this in the high school gym. The rows of seats are incredibly close together and the event is always packed. So there’s no stretching out. Last night, I sat there in the worst possible position for a good hour. My knees didn’t like it at all. And I think I’m paying for it today. I feel mostly good, but my knees feel sorer that usual. Thankfully, there wasn’t anything physically active that I had to do. All of my activities were physically easy, plus I was able to fit in a nap.

We’re going to the high school game again tonight. This one is about an hour away, so it might be a later than usual bedtime. Anyway, I may have just told you a lot more than you wanted to know.

Here we are. First of all, I’m not believing how many people are at this game. There’s nowhere to park. We should have arrived about an hour earlier. We ended up parking in a neighborhood several blocks from the stadium.

The game was close the whole time. Unfortunately, we ended up losing by 1 point. I also found out that our best running back has either a broken foot or some torn ligaments. He’s wearing a cast and is on crutches. Hopefully he’s alright.

It was 10pm at the beginning of the forth quarter. With the long walk back to the car and a good hour drive back home, we decided to leave early. We were thinking that leaving after the game could be a logistical nightmare.

Anna’s band didn’t get back to the school until after midnight. I picked her, which made bedtime around 12:45.

Day 6

I would normally wake up around 4, but that would have only given me about 3 hours and 15 minutes of sleep. So I slept until 5. Not much better, but enough to let me do about half of my workout before the sun came up.

Today, it’s 10 mile repeats with a target pace around 8:30 per mile. Last time, my average pace was 8:21 per mile. The pace felt natural and was never all that aerobically hard. So I’ll try for the same effort this time. If it’s a little faster or slower, it’s fine.

When I arrived at the track for my warmup, there were two guys there walking. That early on a Saturday, I wasn’t expecting much company. Especially at the track.

Warmup was good. Here we go…

OK, it’s about 2 hours and 15 minutes later and I’m all done. Mile repeat paces were as follows:

Mile 1 – 8:23. Mile 2 – 8:22. Mile 3 – 8:19. Mile 4 – 8:21. Mile 5 – 8:21. Mile 6 – 8:19. Mile 7 – 8:18. Mile 8 – 8:21. Mile 9 – 8:21. Mile 10 – 8:18.

Aerobically, I think I could have done several more of these. But my legs were feeling heavy towards the end. For hydration, I used that Tailwind endurance fuel again. This time, I don’t think I drank quite enough as I ended up with a headache for part of the day.

Day 7

Oh man, am I ever sore! I managed a 35 minute recovery run/walk at the track. When I first started, my legs wanted no part of it! Eventually, they warmed up and felt better. But I still felt really sore and almost achy for the rest of the day. I’m hoping that my legs will feel better tomorrow morning. If not, I might consider taking the day off. I’ve avoided taking ice baths for the past year or so, but am thinking that it might be a good idea now. Maybe a good night sleep will help. We’ll see…

Final Thoughts

Great week. Considering Saturday’s workout, I’m thinking that going easier during the week was the right call. From here on, especially with Saturday’s workouts getting more difficult, I need to make sure that I’m recovering adequately. We’ll see what the next few weeks have in store. I guess that’s it for now. 18 weeks down and only 8 to go!