Week 20 - 8 Miles

So today was my last training run before the Mountains2Beach Marathon.  This morning was an easy 8 miles.  The weather was very nice -- not too hot and not too cool.  Hopefully this is the last time I have to wake up for a 5:30 run on a Saturday for a while.

I felt great the entire run.  Didn't have hardly any trouble with my legs warming up.  No cramps or anything else that would slow me down.  Just the road/sidewalk, my music, and me.  I haven't had a chance to have a great run like this in a long time because the distance has taken a lot of the enjoyment out it.

I'm have two goals with my first marathon.  First and foremost I want to finish.  That is what is most important to me.  Second, I'd like to finish in under 5 hours.  I'm not sure this is doable but if I do finish within that time, I'll be very happy.

I also tried the Garmin Connect mobile app where I link my watch to my phone.  It worked for the most part but my watch or phone kept losing the connection and so there are gaps on the route.  I'm going to try to go on another training run Monday evening and see if switch arms my phone is on helps any.  I don't like wearing things on my left arm but the distance from the watch to the phone will be much smaller, so maybe that will help with the disconnects.

I feel excited and a little nervous about this race.  I feel like I am as ready as I can be.  I've been hitting my cross training really hard the past couple months and my long runs have been challenging yet I've been able to handle them for the most part.  The only thing I am worried about is my endurance. My physical ability really drops off after 13 miles so it will be interesting to see how I do for a full 26 miles.  The best key to a good run will be to not start out too fast.  I've been running between 10:30/mile and 11:00 for the most part so if I stick to that pace I think I will do fine.

Week 19 - 12 Miles

This morning I ran a nice 12 miles as we tapper heading into the Mountains2Beach Marathon.  The race is in 2 weeks!  Wow.  Hopefully this is the last time we have to get up at 5:30 in the morning for a run.

The taper seems to come at just the right time in the training schedule.  I know your body needs to recover from the hard work you put it through with the 18, 19, 20 mile runs but I think it is good mentally as well.  I am perhaps mentally tired after long as I am physically and so it was nice running a "shorter" distance for a change.

It's interesting how training for a marathon changes your perspective on what a long distance is.  I used to think 10 miles for training and a half marathon were long distances and now they don't seem so bad.

The only thing that really slowed me down was I got hungry right around mile 10 and so I snacked on a Larabar.  I'm very happy with the 10:44/mile pace I ran, even with the temps starting to rise here in Texas.

Week 17 - 20 Miles

This week was a much, much better run.  I didn't have any stomach problems since I didn't use the same stuff that upset my stomach the past two weekends.  I still have to walk some after the 13 mile mark as I very much have the endurance to run a half marathon.  Past that and the distance becomes a lot more cumbersome and taxing.  It might be good for me in training runs to run past 13 miles so that I can stretch my endurance to longer distances.  That might help make marathon training be less of a beat down, both mentally and physically.

My marathon is just a little more than 4 weeks away.  I'm both excited yet terrified.  I am very certain I will be able to finish it but I still get freaked out by the distance.

We're at the point in the training runs where we start tapering.  Next week we are scheduled to run 10 miles!  I am running in a 5k and so while I want to try to be my previous best of 27:15, I really think it might be best to just run at a pace that is comfortable for me that doesn't put too much stress on my body.  If I were to run a 9:30/mile pace I'd be very happy.  After the race I think we will be finishing the route with a 7 mile run in the area.

Well, I am starving after burning 1,800 calories this morning and so I am going to sign off to raid the fridge.

500 More Spots Opened for Mountains 2 Beach Marathon

Post by Mountains 2 Beach Marathon.

First Post - Week 1 - 7.2 Miles

I am starting my training to run a full marathon, the Clif Bar Mountains2Beach Marathon,  in May 2014.  I have created this blog to document my experiences leading up to my race.  I plan to share both the good and bad experiences.

To start this blog off right, I ran yesterday for 7.2 miles.  I did fine running at a nice pace that will help me PR at my next half.  I need to run a 10:00/mi or better pace if I am going to get to 2:10.  However after a water stop around the 3.5 mark, I suddenly got the heaves after I drank some water.  After that I fell apart and had trouble running.  I suspect it had to do with running to hard (I was around a 9:15 pace) in the cold and then perhaps drank too much water.

Here's hoping next week is better.