therunnerwithin

First starters look over to the right of your screen, do you see what I see? 75 days till race day?! AHHHH!!! The count down is happening all too quickly and this week truly felt like marathon training had set in as I spent the week mentally preparing my self for the 15 miles laid out for me on Sunday.

Week 10/16-10/22

Monday: Rest day with India team training in the morning. I was definitely feeling exhausted and still slightly sore for the previous days 12-miler.

Tuesday: 5 miles were scheduled for today. I ran 3 before camp and was hoping to make up the difference during the workout, I was able to log just under a mile before Mother Nature opened up the skies and we had to rush to take cover at our rain out location.

Wednesday: Met up Becky for another 5 miles, since Wednesdays are strictly running days only we ran the full 5 miles. Becky can run much faster than me so it was a good push to build up the speed but still be able to hold a conversation…well with her talking most of the last two miles, lol.

Thursday: Rest day. I set my alarm to go to CG, however my bed won the battle at 4:45am. Even though there is no reason to feel guilty for missing a workout, especially when I am listening to my body, I hate that I went from a CG workout 5 days a week to 2 days a week. The end result will be worth it though!

Friday: We had 4 miles on the plan to do today. Kim, Becky and I met up for two miles before class and then logged another 1.19 during the workout. Trainer Kelly had a good circuit workout that I really enjoyed with fire hoses, sandbells, and a plyo box that I hope to see come back in another camp cycle or two.

Saturday: Rest day. I really tried to take it easy in preparation of the pending 15-miler I had the next day. I went over to Kim’s and helped her move some stuff so I kept the legs moving slightly. I made sure to hydrate throughout the day and for dinner I picked up my trusty rice bowl to carb load for the big run.

I tried to treat the prep as if I was actually running a race. The most my body had ever done in one race is the distance of a half marathon and I was adding an additional two miles to that.

Sunday: The big 15-miler. My alarm came all too quick the next morning. I immediately started drinking some water and then ate an english muffin with some peanut butter. I was meeting some friends a 5am, Nicole who was running the marathon, Lesa who was training for an upcoming half and Laura who just came out for some miles. We headed out on a 2.5 mile out and back trail using :90/:30, which worked out perfectly since Laura only wanted to do 5 miles.

Once we were back at our cars I nibbled on a quarter of a PB&J, a new fuel strategy I was trying, and refilled my water bottles, I brought out my hydration waist pak as our hydration on the course was limited. After saying our goodbyes to Laura, Lesa, Nicole and I headed off in the opposite direction for another ~2.5 mile out and back loop. I was feeling pretty good so far, at one point at one of the mile markers Nicole made a comment that our pace was staying consistent, which is good. At about mile 9, I started to feel that pain in my hip flexors that I had felt at the same mile last week…seriously?! We were at about mile 10.75 when we made it back to our cars for a second time. I again, nibbled on another quarter of PB&J and took a moment to stretch out my hips.

Lesa had called it a day so it was down to Nicole and I for the last 4.25. Before taking off for the last little bit I opted to not run with my hydration pak and instead carry one of the water bottles, since it was only for 4 miles. We took off on the run and the pain was gone…guess the weight of the water bottles and the hydration pak is too much for my hips? Nicole had been having some pain in her feet starting back at around mile 7 so we took the last four miles easy going from :90/:30 to :60/:60 but hey it’s all about getting the mileage first and foremost. We managed to maintain a 12:42/mile average, which is amazing!

Miles logged Week 5: 27.75 miles

Total Miles logged for Walt Disney World Marathon training: 112.24 miles

How do fuel on the run? Have you tried anything other than the standard gels and chews?

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