Week 6 - It's A Marathon, Not A Sprint, Right?

This week was a "down" week. I told several people that and then told them about how many miles, and they all had similar reactions: "That's a down week?" The mid-week runs were 3-5-3, and the long run on Saturday was 7 miles. None of it was any problem, and none of it took longer than an hour.

I ran a trail in Peter's Canyon on Tuesday morning with a friend and that was the 5 miler. Didn't have any trouble with that one, even with it starting at 6am. I think I've mentioned it before, but whenever I can manage to get myself up for those runs and do them before work, it really does make a big difference in how much energy I have by the end of the day, i.e. I actually feel more awake at the end of the day exercising in the morning than when I don't. I never thought that would be the case for me.

I wasn't able to do the last of the short runs until Friday, and the long was on Saturday, as always. This week I actually felt more creaky than any other. My biomechanics didn't feel quite aligned right. I had rolled my ankle in soccer Wednesday of last week, and that's always a concern for me (ankles). It wasn't anything bad, but only in the last day or two have I woken up without it feeling sore the whole day. And my right knee still feels tender. Even with all of that, I had a good pace on Saturday. I ran the same 7 mile route that I ran in the second week of training which was basically a big box in Irvine, although I was feeling good enough toward the end of it that I ended up taking a little bit longer route that put on another half mile.

The route went from being 7.2 miles to 7.7, and I ran it in 59 minutes. That was encouraging because of any of my runs so far, I feel like that one was where I was feeling the most wear and tear. For me, the problem hasn't been the running itself, but playing soccer is starting to have more of an effect on how good/bad I'm feeling during these normal runs. With the increased mileage, I feel like there is more recovery that is needed, and soccer might be a little too high intensity to keep pursuing. Although I feel like the last couple of weeks I've just run into some bad luck as far as how these slight injuries have occurred - I stepped on someone's foot this last week and the previous week I met someone with the ball using my in-step so it was a bad angle for my knee.

In any case, my pacing feels good and I don't feel like I'm lacking at all for endurance. Shins, back, hips, and every other joint feels fine. I don't feel like I'm straining for oxygen at all during my runs, and I don't feel like I'm having any trouble finishing the runs off. Without really any conscious effort, I think I've been able to have a steady pace during the course of all my runs. I think if I actually were going for an actual time and had any ideas about mile markers or that sort of thing, I think I could push the pace even more. In fact, I don't even check my time during my runs until the very end because I don't want that to take too much of my focus.

I need to not get too ambitious though. I think the important thing with this first marathon is really just enjoying the experience of it and not worrying so much about how quickly I can get it over with. The point should be to savor the challenge, and plus, I don't want to have any reason for not being satisfied with the outcome. I guess what I really mean is that I shouldn't be upset if I finish in 4.5 hours when deep down I was hoping for 3.5 hours. Just running the dang thing is a feat in itself and I don't want to diminish that by any means.

I did actually drop several pounds in the last couple of weeks. I dipped below 170 lbs for the first time probably since high school, which is kind of amazing to me. But then hot pot on Saturday and string beef tacos on Sunday brought it all back. I think by the actual race I'll probably be down in weight to high 160s.

This week is back up again, with the mid-range run going up another mile, so 3-6-3, with a 12 miler on Saturday. I'm thinking that maybe I'll increase the dosage on the long runs a mile or two the rest of the way. I did that with the 10-mile run in Week 5 and I felt fine afterward. The key will be not overdoing it and allowing myself to recover between the runs. Increasing protein intake has done wonders for helping me to avoid any feelings of soreness, especially following the long runs. That shouldn't be a surprise, but then when you actually do it, it kind of is. I have a testimony of it...Anyway, so we'll see how it all goes.