Thor's Running Journal

I thought there would be torrential down pour this morning on my run, but it didn't happen. I am grateful for that. It would have been a dark cold wet 5 miles. I've escaped any really inclement weather this cycle which is sort of miraculous and awkward. I guess it is a mercy considering the winter training earlier this year. I am not complaining at all.  The closer this marathon comes, the more I get sort of emotional that it is coming to a close. I feel like I can finally give myself permission to get excited about this race. When in the thick of things, when I am tickling 60 miles a week waking up at all kinds of  early hours, it is tough to get really excited because there is such incredible amounts of work to get done right in front of me. I couldn't get too far with my thoughts because I needed to take care of focusing on the next workout, the next mile, the next day or week.  But now...I can start to visualize myself finding the starting corral. Warming up and stret...

6 easy effort miles and I loved them First run of the season with leggings.  Went groceryshopping with the kids and got a menu plan together for the week. It sì all happening so fast now. Hard to believe it is almost over. Its been such a good cycle. It's felt hard and without a doubt challenging, but never impossible. My body just kept waking g up and I kept putting one foot in front of the other. I keep saying it, but what ever happens on Saturday I am a proud of the effort and dedication day in and out. I feel the fresh feeling of "if I can do this... What else is possoble?!?!" much like I did way back when I finished my first marathon 2 years ago. An hour a day of focused work on a singular task for 4.5 months wasn't easy all the time, but it sure feels good now.

 There are lots of things that can happen in a week, but there is a sense of relief making it this far along. It warrants a moment of reflection on all the interesting things that a training cycle brings with it. Not all runs are memorable, but there were a few that stood out. Especially those vacation runs because I was outside of my neighborhood...Smiths Grove KY, Fayetteville WV (oh those hills), Indianapolis IN. And off course the integration of the sailing adventures with the running regimen. 4 And just so many days of waking up in the middle of the early morning and hitting the pavement.  Race day will mark my 101st run of the training cycle. Pretty momentous.  This morning I dropped Pascal off to ref a soccer game and went for a beautiful daylight 8 mile easy effort run around SVSU campus. The sun just came up and it made the trees glow. So lovely. I've also been thinking...I think I've got a real shot at going 3:10. I redid all the math and it is within spitting d...

 Woke up with a bit of a headache somewhere around 1am. I really wanted to sleep in until 6 and then go put on  7 easy Thursday miles because I didn't have to take the kids to school, but it just wasn't in the cards. Made it back to bed for a few hours when I got home. I ran known loops, 4 miles and then 3 miles. That way I could just turn on cruise control and not bother thinking about turns or calculating a route back home.  My body rhythm won't really go into taper mode until Saturday when I normally would be doing a long run paced workout. Then next week will be a bit bonkers with just light duty miles. I can't quite remember what it is like to taper because last training cycle was disturbed. If I trace my memory back to last year I think I felt a little awkward with the abundance of extra energy.  I'm going to keep trying to stay in bed, but I'm not too optimistic that it is going to happen. We'll see.  I keep studing the  map for the race. I'd like...

 I put on my race day shoes this morning for my final marathon paced practice. It is a good thing I did because there was chafing on the back part of my ankle. I faintly remember this sensation from the half-marathon earlier this year, but it slipped my mind. It only happened on my right foot which seems a little unusual, but the body is a strange and wonderful thing full of slight asymmetries. I'll put a bandaid on it and be fine. At least that's what I'm telling myself because the rest of the run felt fantatic.  A fast run, but on par with the previous two weeks of marathon practice. Not straining and ending with the sensation I could certainly go further. Over all paced at 7:09/mile which seems pretty amazing. 1 7:12 2 7:13 3 7:06 4 7:06 5 7:06 6 7:08 7 7:02 8 7:01 9 7:08 10   7:18 Average heart rate 165 I am really hoping there is a pacer to keep me honest because based on the past 3 weeks, it's not outside the realm of possibly to take a shot at 3:10 (i.e 7:14/m...

 It might be Tuesday and be a designated rest day, but it's tough to tell my body that. I woke up at about 12:30am, but didn't fight it. I went and at a bowl of corn flakes, then went back and laid in bed with white noise that took me off to sleep. I woke from an unrememberable dream before the kids awoke.  5 full consecutive hours of deep sleep gave my body what it needed to mentally and physically recover. It also reminded me how weird it is to live in a different time zone of sorts for the past 4 months. I have the sense it will take some readjustment once the marathon is over. Really, I've been going pretty hard since way back around Christmas last year, 11 months ago. A full training cycle between then and April (with the fiasco incident). Then a shortish break in May and June before getting back into the slog mid-July. With the marathon so close, it's tempting to think about what next scenarios even before I've taken my pace on the starting line. Train for a f...