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September 25, 2004
It's All Downhill From Here
Today I finished my longest run of the longest week of this marathon training plan. I can't help but think that it can only get easier from here!
It has been a bit of a long week for O and I with our visitors and work schedule so I was still feeling a little on the tired side when I woke up (despite the fact that I slept for 10 hours!). We drove to North Park for the run. It was again another beautiful morning, albeit a little warmer than it has been, in the 60s instead of 40s and 50s.
There is a 7.5 mile loop in the park that we often run and I decided we could do the loop 3 times for our 2 hour and 50 minute run. I've never actually measured the loop and I suspect that it's a tad longer than 7.5 miles, but for running log purposes, I call it 7.5.
The first loop was okay, not great but not horrible. I was feeling a little lethargic and the legs were a little heavy. O did the first loop with me. On the 2nd loop (which I did backwards) I started feeling much better and was able to pick up the pace slightly (I ran about 20 seconds faster on the 2nd loop than the first). O took this loop off so he could help me through the 3rd loop, which I really appreciated. It's hard to get started again after sitting/standing for 55 minutes, but he did just fine and was a big boost during the 3rd loop, which was a challenge for me. I struggled on the 3rd loop some, not so much physically, but mentally. I was dreading one rather sizeable hill on the loop, but after we got up it, I started breaking the remainder of the loop up into segments (easier to handle that way), and we finished pretty strong.
All in all it was a good run and I'm pleased that it's over. I learned an important lesson today in that I really need to respect the distance of the marathon. Now that I've finished two marathons, I'm relatively certain (barring any unforseen disasters) that I will be able to run 26.2 miles October 17th. I think it's good to have that confidence that indeed I will survive. But at the same time, I need to respect the fact that 26.2 miles is a very long way to run and I can't overstep my bounds early on in the race. I was reminded of that today. It was good that I struggled some on my 3rd loop. A keen reminder that I have to be smart on race day!
Now I'm hurting a little. Of course my stomach started to revolt after the run, but luckily O and I didn't have much planned for today so after I showered and stretched and ate a little lunch we were able to lay down and watch some football. I took a nap. The weekends really are very delightful days of the week!
Today's run (of about 22.5 miles) brought me to a total of 58 miles for the week, my highest so far. I must admit that I was a bit tempted to run further on Thursday (as in 6 miles instead of the 4 that I really did) so that I could have one 60 mile week, but I refrained. I decided running 2 extra miles just for the sake of achieving a meaningless number wasn't a good thing to do. Now I kind of wish I had run 6 on Thursday, but (luckily) there isn't much I can do about it now! :)
Posted by beth at September 25, 2004 3:46 PM
Comments
HAPPY TAPER! That's my favorite part of marathon training ....
Posted by: jenandmats at September 25, 2004 5:13 PM
Congrats on 22.5! Meghan
Posted by: Meghan at September 25, 2004 6:38 PM
Nice job on the 22.5 miles, Beth! If there's one thing I learned on Sunday, running over 20 miles in training is really important. Definitely respect the distance but I think you will do great on 10/17 and I can't wait to hear about it!
Posted by: barb at September 27, 2004 3:37 PM