The Thick Of It

No doubt about it - I am in the thick of marathon training!

This is a "light" week - a 12 miler this past Sunday, 6 today, 6 tomorrow, 6 Friday and an easy 9 on Saturday. Then the monster month begins with 12 on Sunday, 3 Monday... 18 Thursday and 6 on Saturday. Funny thing is, the mileage for both weeks works out to exactly the same -39 - but I bet you I am going to be more wiped out at the end of next week than I will at the end of this week. Eighteen milers will do that to you.

Anyway, I've been working on a few issues: speed, diet and rest. First, speed. I've managed my last two long runs - 14 and 15 miles respectively, at an average pace of 8:46 minutes per mile. It may sound like I'm holding steady at a respectable sub-9 minute pace, but in reality, I picked up the pace between the 14 and 15 milers. The key, for me, is the 13.1 mile split, the half marathon split. During the 14 mile long run, I hit 13.1 miles at 1 hour 54 minutes and 55 seconds. Less than a week later, during my 15 miler, 13.1 miles came at 1 hour 53 minutes flat. (I "rewarded" myself by running the rest of my 15 at a slow jog, thus bringing my average down.) It's getting better. I'll break 4 hours at that pace. I won't, however, qualify for Boston. I need to be at the half on January 30 at 1 hour 52 minutes or faster in order to qualify for Boston.

Speed remains a work in progress.

Second, diet. I've been in a protein deficiency for some time now, but even though I've had chronic muscle soreness that would not let up, I didn't think about dietary causes. Pain is part of this whole experience. If you can't run through pain, you “ain't gonna” make it through the race. Instead, I thought I might be overtraining and thought I'd just get over it.

Until I went to one of those Brazilian steakhouses and ate a boatload of meat - beef, pork, chicken, lamb. I don't normally eat a lot of meat. My main food groups are fruits/vegetables, whole grains, coffee and dairy (Greek yogurt, cheese, etc.) It's not a very protein-centric diet, and like a lot of runners, I'm guilty of eating lots of carbs to fuel my immediate energy needs. So, I'd run a very painful and sore 4 miles before going to the restaurant. The next day, I got up and ran a remarkably pain free 12 miles. I ate chicken that night and a piece of chicken every night since then and an egg in the morning, plus my Greek yogurt.

Guess what? I'm not sore anymore. Diet appears to be solved.

And then there's rest.

 After Sunday's 12 miler, I felt a shade or two of the whole body depletion I feel after running 26.2 miles - it's both unpleasant and pleasant at the same time. But alarmingly, I don't typically feel that until after running 18 or 20 miles. It was a sign that I hadn't paid enough attention to my rest and recovery.

Now as a mom who works full time, I have to manage my training during the time I have - and there's really not any room for flexibility. I have to train as much as I can, when I can. But I can mitigate the situation by making sure I sleep enough and by sitting and relaxing more often (ok moms out there, I know. Easier said than done. ) Monday morning, I filled in for Sharron Melton on the morning show, which means a 2:15am wakeup. And boy, did I feel the depletion! I didn't run Monday or Tuesday and tried to get as much sleep as I could.

We'll see if my rest issues have been solved as I run the rest of this week.

Finally, as I run down my mental marathon checklist - there are things that need to be done: new shoes to be bought, new Gu to be acquired, things like that. But for the most part - no injuries, no serious pain, no toenails lost (yet) - I'm heading into my monster month in good shape.

Wish me luck.