Marathon Training Week 14 Recap

     

      This week has seen a lot of changes to my usual routine that I have been maintaining.  Sunday I was originally scheduled to run a local 15K race that I won a free entry to, but unfortunately that race was cancelled.  When one door closes, another one will open because I found about a cool 5K happening the same day so I headed out to that one.  All I have left is one 6 mile run and two 3 mile runs next week.  I am starting to get that nervous excited feeling, more excited than nervous, but I am sure that will change the closer we get to Sunday.  This week also saw a sad day in my life with the loss of our beloved chihuahua Stinka.  It was hard to say goodbye, but it had to be done to end his suffering. 

Sunday:

     I decided late Friday night to participate in a 5K that my sister was volunteering at.  My sister got involved with a charity group called The Arms Forces that raises money and helps veterans with "invisible" wounds like PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder), brain injuries and any other non visible injuries.  My sister isn't a veteran, but she is a stroke survivor and has been looking to help those that are going through the same issues that she has had to face.  This group put together a 5K that took place on the runways of the Toledo Express Airport.

*********Click Here for the race recap!*********

Monday:

     A normal rest day for me, but after my 5K yesterday, a day of rest was totally welcomed.

Tuesday:

    Not a lot to truly tell on this one.  It was a 4 mile run at my easy pace, and to be honest it was a little hard to keep my pace slow, and I guess that is a good problem to have.  The weather was nice, a little on the cool side, but made for an enjoyable run.  I did have my first close encounter with a deer today.  The moon was pretty bright and I had my headlamp fired up, so about a half mile in I see two glowing eyes that were almost as tall as me about 25 yards ahead.  I could tell they weren't human, but it caught me off guard.  I clapped my hands a couple of times real loud and all of a sudden they vanished.  I caught a glimpse of a white tail hopping away from me just before it turned into the corn field and disappeared.  That was the only heart stopping part of the run I had to deal with.  When I got back to the house I stretched out and did three sets of 20 pushups.  Yeah that's right I did 60 freaking pushups!

Wednesday:

     I stayed up a little late last night watching tv and I really was feeling tired.  I gave myself the opportunity to sleep in about twenty five minutes later than I normally would despite the fact I was scheduled to run a race pace 4 mile out and back route.  I decided in the grand scheme of things one mile isn't gonna make or break my training and I didn't want to leave myself with less time to get ready for work.  When you have a puppy you need all the time you can get when getting things ready for you to leave.  I know this is a training journal, but there really isn't anything to report on this run.  I felt good for all three miles and was able to keep my pace splits nice and close.  
 

Thursday:
     Taking a taper period rest day :)

Friday:

     I went for my final double digit run of my training.  I used this run as my test run for all my equipment and what I am planning on wearing.  I set up my route to be mostly flat with only one overpass because my right foot is still slightly bothering me and I didn't want to over do it.  I did want to get one more longer distance run in that was right in my race pace window.  By the time I was able to get out it had warmed up considerably.  I felt pretty good for the whole run, but my inner thighs were feeling a little tight.  I got a little lazy on my stretching the last few days so I am gonna guess that is the problem.  Anyway, I held my pace pretty well except for my 9th mile.  I got a call and wasn't paying attention to my pace as I let it slip.  Unfortunately I didn't have enough time to speed up and save that mile, but no worries, its just a training run.
  

Saturday:

     No run scheduled today since I am cutting back during my taper.  I have 3 more runs early next week and that will be it for this training journal.
 

Week 15 begins now

* For quick access to my entire Marathon training journal click the "Marathon Journal" tab just below the Running In The Fat Lane header