Marathon training – hot as (bleep)!  19 weeks to race day! — Legally Fit

Besides the intense heat, I dealt with some of the usual twists that life throws in.  It was a week of sleeping on my couch as I got to enjoy a visit from my mom, and it was another week where I somehow ended up with a painful injury – this time to my pectoral muscle.  It was just a slight nag at first after a day of strength training last week, but perhaps as the result of carelessness when I spent a morning at my climbing gym, it became surprisingly painful.

Weather, life events, and injuries are all part of the process.  Certainly, injuries are with me.  All I can do is try my best to prevent what I can and recognize them early when they creep in so they can be dealt with easier.  Going for acupuncture on my knees last week was a simple therapy with the goal of injury prevention on an area that gets abused.  But ending up at acupuncture this week was purely treatment for pain.  Of course, I don’t need much from my pectoral muscle to run, but the most excruciating pain happens with coughing or heavy breathing, so this injury was not nothing.

While the enormity of this plan felt intimidating, there’s also real focus that comes with the mission.  It’s a focus that gets me through the days you don’t want to be doing it.  I’m certain that this focus is a muscle I’ll need during the latter part of the marathon.  It’s the “embrace the suck” muscle.  It’s where I learn that overcoming the challenge is often the best part of the journey.  For those who want to read the entire training program at the end of this, you’ll see a week where I overcame the weight of the early part of the week to finish it on a high note where I could feel real improvements in my performance – culminating with a 4-mile race day on Sunday after a five-mile warmup run to get my full nine miles in for the day.  For years, I’ve shown up at these races noticing others in race bibs running Central Park before the race.  I always thought they were crazy.  Running before a race?!?!  But on Saturday, I became that guy, realizing that the impressions I had before were just because I didn’t get it . . . yet.

In the end, a week that started with a bit of anxiety, finished with a renewed sense of optimism.  I turned the things that get in the way of training into what strengthened me. The ease of that nine-mile run and pace that I hit on the last mile of it (9:15/mile) was a moment of clarity that showed me it’s all working.  Long runs are getting easier, and my pace is getting faster.  Even a 5K pace test I ran on Tuesday — the hottest day of the week — let me know that I’m ready for the toughest of days.  Now, as week two is complete, my legs feel fresh, and I’m looking forward to seeing what progress I continue to find as this goes on. But most importantly, there’s now one less week to go!

Aaron

For those interested in more, here’s a recap of the full training program in week two followed by some stats on how many miles I’ve run per week.  As always, the day and training plan workout are listed in bold.

Sunday June 22 (19 weeks until the marathon):  30–40-minute easy pace run

• 3.6-mile run (38:58):  This might have been my first time going for a run the day after a longer run.  I had run seven miles the day before but got in a nice day of recovery that afternoon. What I hadn’t done – which I need to incorporate more – is put on my air compression boots after the long run.  As I set out for this run on the East River, I felt pretty good, but my legs were a bit heavier than when I typically run.  It was nothing that would get in the way of an easy run on another rainy day, but something that reminded me to take better care of my legs afterwards.