Snap, Crackle, Pop

With the completion of this past Sunday's 19-mile run, I officially reached the halfway point of marathon training, and I go back and forth between feeling elated that I'm "already halfway there - hooray!!"  and totally discouraged that "crap, I'm only halfway there - still 8 more weeks to go."

I finished up my 8th week of training with a pretty good long run, though. And I did awesome with my track workout earlier in the week. I've slowly come to realize that my track workouts are basically the equivalent of me running a 5K every Tuesday. Which is part of the reason I both love and hate them. I LOVE to run fast, and the confidence I feel after I complete one of those workouts is amazing. But it HURTS to run fast, and it's such a relief when it's over.

I do have to say, though, that I cannot wait to run a 5K for real, once the marathon is over and I've recovered from it. My PR right now is 22:21, and I am pretty confident that I could get under the 22-minute mark if I ran a 5K anytime in the near future. It'll be fun to really test that out when I get the chance. It'll be a while, though, and until then, I have to keep plugging away at these long, long runs.

The 19 miles went well. I planned to get down to the beach in time to cheer on some friends who were doing a sprint tri that morning, and I timed it perfectly. I got there just as they were coming out of the water, and was able to give them all a shout-out as they ran into transition.

I would have loved to have stayed and watched the rest of the race, but I still had another 9 miles to go, so I headed back out. Seeing all the triathletes doing their thing gave me a nice little dose of motivation, though, and I was feeling great as I got back on the road, and it stayed that way for a good 5 or 6 more miles.

I've noticed on my last few really long runs that I always seem to run into a rough spot around mile 15 or 16, and that was the case this time, too. I wouldn't go so far as to say I hit the wall or anything, but I definitely feel reeeeeeaaaaally tired and sluggish, and it's usually the only time during the run that I feel like I'm struggling.

I got through it, though, and felt a little better around mile 17. The last few miles were somewhat hilly, and the hills did wear me out a bit, but when I wasn't going up an incline, I felt pretty good, considering that I was running my 18th and 19th miles.

My goal pace was 8:53, and I ended up running 8:48. Nice!!!!!!!!  And aside from the rough spot at mile 15, I felt relatively good the whole run. Definitely very encouraging : )   

I still have moments (many of them) when I wonder how the hell I will ever be able to run 26.2 miles at an 8:23 pace, but I'm putting my faith in the training. I'm following the plan, and I'm right where I'm supposed to be, so I should be in good shape.

Paid a visit to the chiropractor earlier last week, also. I've been having some issues with my piriformis (just on the right side), and my physical therapist recommended seeing a chiropractor, which is something I had considered doing, but her recommendation spurred me on to actually call and make the appointment.

And I'm so glad I did. His assessment was that my sacroiliac joint is rotated back slightly, which is the root cause of the piriformis tightness and discomfort. It hasn't been terribly painful - just kind of a nuisance. And I knew that it was more than the muscle soreness - I could tell that something else was not quite right.

So when I heard the two large pops as he adjusted the sacroiliac joint, I felt very relieved. There was no immediate difference in the way it felt physically, but I knew that it would feel different soon after, and it definitely does. I'll still need one or two more adjustments, but after that it should be fine, and so should the pirirformis. Love it when a potential problem has a relatively easy (and painless) solution.

A few things that I've got to figure out during these final three 20-milers -

1. Can I do anything to avoid the 15-mile slump? I'm fueling with Gu or Shot Blocks every 45 - 60 minutes, so I really don't think I can take in any more of that stuff. The only thing I don't do is drink Gatorade, so I'm wondering if a little of that in the early miles might help? May experiment with that this weekend.

2. What can I eat when I first come home that will not turn my stomach? I have absolutely zero appetite when I finish running. The thought of eating anything is so unappealing, and the most I've been able to force down is a bowl of cereal. I usually don't feel like eating until almost 2 hours after I've run, but I know I shouldn't wait that long to eat. Thoughts and suggestions are welcome, because I'd love to find something that will help kickstart my body's recovery process without making me feel ill.

I'm not too nervous about the 20-miler this weekend, since I ran 19 last weekend at the same pace. But I know I'll have that moment when I'm getting ready to head out, where I'm wondering "How on earth am I going to do this?" 

I have those moments before every single track workout, too. I do my warmup jog down to the track, put my water bottle on the bench, and stand there staring at the track and thinking about how hard it's going to be to run the repeats I'm scheduled to run, at the paces I'm scheduled to run them. But I put my head down and get started, and once I'm moving, it all seems so much less impossible.

And once I'm done, I walk off the track feeling downright invincible, and wondering why I was so worried.

Last week's workout was 12 x 400 @ 1:39. I thought that was insane, but I got it done - and completed many of them in 1:35 or less.

This week's workout was 1600 @ 7:02, 3200 @ 14:24, and 2 x 800 @ 3:23. I thought that was even more insane, but I got it done again - and even ran the final 800 in 3:18.

I dread those workouts, but they give me even more confidence than the long runs do. The long runs build so much mental strength, and I know I need that. I need oodles of that, and I'm glad I have so many opportunities to work through those mental battles and build up that kind of endurance.

But I never in my life thought I'd see the paces on my Garmin that I see when I'm running on the track. Granted, it's only for short intervals, but I'm often running a 6:30 pace!  And there are times when a pace in the low 7s feels easy! 

Those numbers are definitive proof that my body is capable of doing this.

Every time I walk off that track, I feel 100% confident that this training plan is working, and that is a wonderful thing.

I don't know if I'll ever go so far as to say that I enjoy track workouts, but I can definitely say that I fully appreciate and value them, and even after this training plan is done, I will continue to run in circles once a week. The payoff is well worth the hurt.

Comments

[Wes]

well, on race day, you will of course be tapered. All those week day runs gaurantee you at least 40 seconds off your current long run pace :-)

Have you tried a smoothie after your run? Something liquid would definitely go down easier.