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!