I took a small break from my Monday Miles posts but i’m back and just in time for taper.
My last few weeks of training have not been my easiest. I was gluten-ed at Thanksgiving and then a few days later I came down with a cold that went to my chest and I have been battling the entire month of December. I continued training the best that I could. I completed a 20 mile and a 19 mile long runs for December. Not exactly what I had planned but I’ve repeatedly have been told if I can reach that distance the final 10k should be no problem. My nerves say otherwise though.
My first 20 miler of the month was rough, It was when my cold made the turn for the worse. It was such a horrible run, I had asthma issues, feet issues and completely bonked. Then last Friday I set out to do 20+ but only made it to 19 due to getting a late start. I felt great during the run but my bad foot was causing problems. It kept swelling and I ended up having to take some breaks to loosen and ultimately take off my foot wrap. Otherwise I felt great, if the park wasn’t getting ready to close I would have done some more miles. These bad runs really have me wondering if i’m going to be able to do it. I think that is normal, just like the marathon bad dream I had.
This past week has been full of more rain that has kept me from running. I finally was able to go out over the weekend. I was looking forward to it. My husband got me a Garmin 220 for Christmas and it needed testing. I decided I was doing at least 10 miles, more if my foot didn’t bother me. My biggest fear right now is injury. So I went to the one trail by my house and was met with a surprise.
Flooding! I was a mile in when I came up on it. I was told about a well worn and marked path through the woods. The path was well marked but not well worn. I made it through only to come across more flooding. I didn’t even look for a bypass this time, I just turned around. I ended up finishing with 7 miles. They were good miles except navigating through the woods. No foot pan so I decided I would be going to the flight line the next day.
The flight line has been my nemesis. Six and a half mile laps. The laps really mess with my head. It’s boring out there most weekends too, there never seem to be any planes taking off. I only had 2 easy laps to do, so I did them. It was a much better experience than my last one at flight line. The weather even allowed for training in similar weather as what is currently forecasted for marathon day. Best part was no foot problems! Just my normal post run low blood sugar and sodium/potassium. It is now officially taper time.
Hopefully I won’t make myself crazy over the next two weeks.