Going Long
I don't remember when I last posted, and I don't think it wise to go back and look at my last entry now that I'm actually writing. It has been too long since I last had the time and mental energy to devote to this blog, as I am at the tail end of one of the busiest six-week periods I have experienced in some time. But things have eased up a bit this weekend, as I have neither a race nor a pressing deadline. I celebrated this morning by going for a 16-mile long run, from which I am presently recovering by putting back as much glycogen and water as I can.
It was a good day to run this morning, temps in the 50s and cloudy with no wind, comfortable enough that I wore a cotton t-shirt and didn't have to ditch it before I was done. I felt OK afterward, not wiped out like I am used to feeling after those long summer runs getting ready for a Fall marathon. Training for a marathon in the Spring is definitely different -- in a good way. There were many long runs last Summer that ended with me staggering into the house and lying on the cold floor for 5-10 min. before I could even stretch. It's hard to avoid the heat in South Carolina in the summertime, no matter how early you get up.
Yet since I last posted on this blog, I have endured some extreme weather of a different kind trying to get in workouts. There was the morning of Jan. 31, when I did a 20-min. tempo run on the track in zero-degree wind chill, a slushy 2 miles in the neighborhood the day after (cut short when my Mizuno Riders got hopelessly soaked in the puddles), and the set of Yasso 800s I ran in 25-degree weather on the same track in early February; and the numerous tempo runs, reps, and easy afternoon 4-milers in cold, driving arctic wind. The weather on race days, on the other hand, has been fantastic: sunny and around 40 for the Downtown 5k; unusually sunny and warm (mid 50s -- too warm for the shirt I wore) at the Green Valley 10-mile, and a windy but beautiful morning for the Reedy River 10k.
Things are looking really good for the next several weeks before Nashville. I'm going to skip one of the two 5ks that I normally do in March and April, and use the other for a time trial. I'm going to drop to the 8k that accompanies the Earth Day half-marathon I usually run, which will be one week before the marathon. The rest of the time I can spend building up miles, stretching out the long runs to at least 18 and maybe 20, and getting in a good taper the last 3 weeks. This one will not be for time, as it is my first out-of-town marathon, I will not be properly trained for a fast race, I don't want to screw myself up for other races, and I would like to make the 5+-hour drive home the next day in a state somewhat resembling ambulatory so as not to invoke pity at the inevitable bathroom stops.
Various body parts have been screaming at me off and on: left achilles and shin, right glute, right foot occasionally -- but nothing that can't be managed with a little ice or an IcyHot sleeve -- or an ice bath like the one I just barely endured this morning. Ouch.
So from now until the second week in April, the emphasis is on miles, mostly easy ones, to build endurance. I'll throw in some hills, strides, tempo, some Yassos, but only one of those once a week. It's time to get serious about this 26.2 crap.
Posted by MHB
at 11:04 PM EDT