The Training Continues

I got a 17 miler in with my friend Reed 2 days ago. I ended up averaging 6:57 pace throughout. I wanted to slow down some from my previous 16 miler which I averaged a 6:49 pace. After the 16 mile training run I was sore for a couple of days to the point where I had to stretch at night, especially my left leg/ankle/side of my calf area. This run felt much better. My feet still heated up a lot after mile 14, mostly because I need to wear different shoes and maybe socks too. My trusty Green Silence are awesome on any distance up to a halfathon, but aren't going to cut it as a long distance trainer.


Next up, an 18 miler this weekend. The rest of my training will consist of tempo runs anywhere from 5-8 miles in length and hill repeats, which I'll need to help build my strength for the last 13 miles of the marathon I am going to be doing. Roughly 5 of these miles are uphill, or at least that's what the topography looks like for the race. It also appears that at around mile 20 you turn around and head back down the hill(s) that you just came up towards the finish. As long as my legs aren't too thrashed it's going to feel really good turning around at 20.


I am going to be getting some new Brooks shoes delivered tomorrow, the Brooks Ghost 4's. A friend of mine runs in them and really likes them a lot. I hope they'll be a good shoe to wear on my long training runs and my feet are cozier in them on those higher miles!!

Go wild and enjoy running!!

Marathon!!!!

Well, I guess it's time to get a marathon done. I did a 16 mile training run a couple of days ago (averaged 6:49 pace throughout) and have been averaging 30+ miles per week for about 6 weeks or so now. I would like to get a couple more long runs in before I really truly make up my mind, but I'm about 80% sure that it's going to happen. Pretty crazy......I'm getting excited about it, but I'm also afraid I'll go out there and hit the wall hard(every runner's fear when running a marathon for the first time).


I spoke to my running buddy today and he told me that in his best marathon(he's done 30+ of them to date) he stopped on mile 20 and walked for 2-3 minutes. He still ended up running a 2:48. He emphasized getting it done as fast as you can, especially while you feel good because a wall is eminent. I've stopped on the last two runs that I've gone on and it really doesn't seem to affect my overall pace. Another marathon friend of mine said that I've got to slow down and get longer runs in, as that's the most important thing rather then speed. I can't stand running for 2 plus hours at a time, but if I have to I'll try and get a few of those in before race day. This is hopefully the first of many marathon post's to come in the next month or so before race day, October 16th, 2011.

Go wild and enjoy running!!