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

Wednesday weigh in

     I had a really busy day today.  I had to get up around 6 o'clock and take my jeep in to get a new bumper put on for some warranty work.  I didn't get my normal bathroom time in before I left so my weight was a little higher than it would have been.  Keep in mind that I'm not focusing on weight for the next couple of weeks until after the marathon.  So I headed over to the dealership to get my new bumper put on, which took a couple hours, and when they were done I wanted to try and find a shirt to wear for the marathon.  I don't know why am letting something as stupid as a shirt to wear stress me out, but I went to Kohl's then to Dick's Sporting Goods then to another Kohl's and finally Target and I couldn't find anything that I liked.  Actually I found a shirt at Target that I liked, but they did not have my size so I'm going to have to go online and see if I can order it. Anyway, by the time I got back I had about an hour to play with the dogs before I had to head out the door for my run. I had to leave the house so I could be back by 2 o'clock so I could get changed and take Jedi to his puppy check up at 3.  That was pretty much my day!!

10/1/14 official weigh in

183 lbs

Change: +3 lbs

Total loss from heaviest: 134 lbs

Current BMI: 28.6 (overweight)

Change: +.4

     As for my run, I decided to do a half marathon in distance at race pace or slightly faster.  The weather wasn't to bad, mostly cloudy with temps in the low 60s with no wind.  I decided on a route where I would only have one overpass as a hill to mess with.  Once I was on the move I decided to change my route on the fly and do a nice long loop where I thought there wouldn't be any hills.  As it turns out running an area you're not 100% familiar with, you end up finding what you were trying to avoid in the first place.  Luckily they were just some small rolling hills nothing that aggravated my foot.

     I really don't get why my last few runs have felt this way, I know I was doing the pace that I wanted to do, but it felt like such a struggle to do it.  My breathing wasn't the issue, it was my legs.  They just seem to feel tight when I start and keep getting tighter as the miles progress.  It wasn't till I got to around mile six things started to loosen up a little bit and my time began to fall.  I managed to stay under 9 min miles for the remainder of the run. 

     As for my foot issue, I was a little hesitant to really push my pace, but as the run went on my foot felt good and I opened it up towards the end.  I did have a few small twinges of pain, nothing to really worry about, but overall I was happy and my foot did pretty well.  During my run I noticed I was a little tight in my outer and inner thigh muscles.  I think that may have also been a big reason why I felt so sluggish.  I need to concentrate the next couple weeks on getting some good stretching in to stay loose.  I think as I taper and reduce my mileage my legs might start to tighten up, so I'll bring out the foam roller the stick and hopefully Mandy to give me a little massage therapy. 

Marathon training week 12 recap

     This week saw it's share of highs and lows in my training.  If I break the week into halves using my 20 miler as the halfway point, the first half of the week went pretty darn well.  I had some great paces going and felt good for all of them.  On my long run, I changed my hydration plan and only slightly modified my nutrition plan to coincide with the final map released by the marathon.  I also tried out a new piece of equipment for the marathon.  The second half was the low for the week.  I developed foot pain towards the end of my long run and the pain has continued right through the weekend.  I just hope I can get enough rest in to heal before the marathon.  That is a long way to run with foot pain :(

Sunday:

     Today's run was 10 miles at my race pace or slightly above race pace.  The skies were partly cloudy with nice temps but man was it windy.  The goal for the day was to keep may pace below 8:59 a mile.  I felt pretty good at the start, but the first couple of miles my legs were feeling a little tired.  Probably because I ran so late in the day yesterday.  I had the wind at my back for the first couple which helped deal with the tired legs and that's why may pace was so good.  No complaints here though, I'll take it where I can get it.  You can see when I had the wind in my face because my pace took a freaking nose dive on miles 4, 5 and 7. 
     It was grasshopper city out there today, and I hate those damn things.  They would just jump out of the grass and with the high winds they would fly right into me.  Other than food for other animals and wrath of God type stuff what the hell is a grasshopper good for anyways!?  I digress, my pace was quite good on the last three miles, but I have to be honest, I planned my run to have the wind at my back for them.  :)  When I got back I hit the deck and did 2 sets of 20 push ups.

Monday:

     rest rest rest rest rest rest rest rest rest rest rest rest rest!!!!!!  Did I mention it was a rest day :)

Tuesday:

    So before I went to bed last night I checked to see how many miles I was running this morning and I was super excited to see it was only 4 miles.  Even though it was at my slower easy pace the lack of distance allowed me to sleep in almost a half hour longer than I have been.  I got up and took the dogs out for their morning potties and did my morning pre run ritual, which basically consists of eating 2 triscuits, taking two bee pollen capsules and drinking a half bottle of water.  After that I played with the puppy and talked to Mandy for a few minutes while I got ready to go.  It was another chilly morning so a skull cap instead of my visor and I added a pair of gloves and a hoodie as well.  Once I got going the cold didn't really bother me all that much.  If there was a moon out this morning I couldn't see it, and with a clear sky the stars were shinning quite bright.  I wish I would have stopped to take a picture, but I didn't think it would really show up that well on film.  The run itself went good.  Ever since the temps and humidity have dropped my runs seem to be getting better and better, which is no surprise, but the confidence is coming at a great time.  I kept my pace pretty steady and didn't really push it to hard because tomorrow is my final 20 miler and I really want it to go well.

Wednesday:

     Today was a little bittersweet for me as I had my last 20 mile long run for my marathon training.  The weather was the absolute best I could ever ask for.  Clear blue skies, mid 50's for temps and little to no wind all morning so I think God was treating me for all my hard work I have put into my training.  

     Last night when I put together my route for today, I really wanted to challenge myself a little and get as much out of this run as I could.  I designed my route to give me as many hills and elevation changes as I could make.  I ended up hitting 4 highway overpasses and a few roads with some rolling hills.  The other thing I planned out was my nutrition and hydration plan.  The final map for the marathon came out yesterday and has the location of all the hydration stations listed on it.  I have been eating a Clif Shot Block and drinking water at 2 mile intervals.  The hydration stations are not at even intervals so I need some advice.  I spoke with my buddy Thomas who has a couple marathons under his belt and with his advice I decided to keep my nutrition plan the same, but I changed my hydration to match where the fluid stations will be during the race.  I also got a new piece of equipment that I now plan to use for the race.  I was hearing good things about the Flip Belt and it definitely lived up to it.  It is basically a infinity belt that you step into and slide on like a pair of pants.  It is made of a stretchy material that is sewn into a hollow tube with slits for you to slide all sorts of things into it.  Once you fill the belt with whatever you need to carry, you just flip the belt so the slits are now on the inside which keeps everything from falling out.  I had my phone, two packs of Clif Shot Blocks, two granola bars and a pack of gum.  Everything stayed right where I put it, I hardly noticed it the entire run and it was very easy to access what I needed once I got use to it.  Below is a picture I grabbed from their website to give you an idea of how it fits.  If you wanna check it out click here  Flipbelt.com 

     As far as the run goes, well just like the other two, it was long.  I think the first mile was a little suspect as far as what my pace shows, but I am sure it's right I was feeling pretty good at the begining.  As the run progressed I was feeling really good, and obviously my pace shows it.  I wanted to stay around 9:45-9:55 per mile, but as you can see from my pace chart I was actully sticking to the low 9:40s to high 9:30s.

     I ran into an issue at mile 12 with my right foot.  I was starting to climb one of the overpasses and I started getting pain in the ball of my foot.  It wasn't to bad but I had to slow down a little bit and eventually the pain went away until I hit the top of the next overpass on mile 14.  The pain was probably a 4 or 5 out of 10 and was right on the ball of my foot behind my big toe again.  I almost slowed to a walk, but I changed the way my foot was landing and kind of scrunched up my toes to take the pressure off the ball of the foot and that seemed to help.  Once I got back on level ground and got another couple miles, the pain seemed to be gone.  As I continued on for the last few miles, my pace slowly increased and I gave myself the my signature little push for the last mile. 

      As I write this my foot is still aching and slightly hurts when I walk around normal, which comes at a bad time because I have an event at work tomorrow and will mostly be on my feet working a 12 hour shift.  I plan on wearing my super cushy shoes to try and give my foot the best chance mend itself.  If I had to compare it to something I would say it feels like I pulled a muscle or something.

Thursday:
     It was a rough, rough day.   My feet are aching, especially my right foot.  I must have over did it yesterday by running that far and that fast with all the hills.  The aching pain is centered in the arch and a little bit in the ball of my foot and the one thing I need to give them I can't, rest.  I had an event at work tonight and we stayed open till 9 when we normally close at 6pm, so twelve hours on my feet just did not help at all.  I took some ibuprofen and iced them down during my lunch, but I am not sure if I can run tomorrow.   

Friday:

     Well I didn't get home last night till almost eleven and I pretty much walked in the door, changed my clothes and went right to bed.  I made the decision to not run this morning mainly because of my feet, but I needed to get some sleep as well.  The sleep did me some good and I did my best to work at my desk as much as possible.  I continued taking ibuprofen and I iced my feet during my lunch break and while relaxing at home.  I also used a tennis ball to massage my feet as well.  As of right now they are feeling a lot better and I am going to run tomorrow, but I will stay on the flat bike path and take it nice and slow.  

Saturday:

     I got up and went for a 4 mile easy pace run.  As it has been all week, the super thick fog was back and as much as I don't mind running in it, I hate being out there and not being able to see what's ahead of me.
     I have been so worried about this run because of my recent foot pain.  I know I need to give it time and rest them, but time is something I really don't have right now.  I have looked over my next weeks of training and made a couple of changes that will cut me down to 4 days of running instead of 5 and dropped a couple of miles off as well.  Hopefully that will help.  
     During the run my right foot still had a little pain but was manageable.  I got my new shoes that I will be wearing for the marathon and they need to be broke in, so I wore them and that seemed to help with the pain.  I am assuming it is because the cushioning hasn't been broken down and is giving me the best support.
     Lately my "easy pace" has been around the 9:30s, but this morning I told myself my feet and my body would dictate my pace.  I started out around a ten minute pace in the first quarter mile, but slowly my pace seemed to increase.  I seemed to hold steady and hover a little above or below a 9:45 pace, which was fine with me.  I really didn't want to push it and the pain in my right foot never seemed to get any higher than a two out of ten and didn't give me any sharp pains just an aching feeling.
 

      Tomorrow is a 8 mile race pace run and I am a little nervous to run it.  I want to get the miles in, but I don't want to prolong this injury.  As of now my plan is to run it on all flat ground, start out around a 9:30 pace and slowly increase it over the first 2 miles till I get to race pace, unless my feet have other ideas.

Week 13 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