It has been a while since I have written a marathon training update and with just under 8 weeks to go until the Walt Disney World Marathon, I figured it was past time to post an update.
So how is my training going? I know I haven’t been posting nearly as many runfies on my Instagram and the posts in here are lacking but I am training. Much more than I did last year at this time. I have come up with my own training schedule that is a combo of several different major training programs. So far each week I have met my minimum mileage if not more. That said I have yet to do a 20 mile or longer run yet. I am saving those for December. I hope with the craziness of that month training goes smoothly!
The month of October I spent the majority of my weekend’s pacing/sweeping half marathons. This month I still have several races on my schedule so i’m doing double runs on those days to get my mileage in. For instance, last weekend I did a trail 10k. It was a great run except for the fact that we hadn’t had rain since the hurricane and it kicked up a ton of dust/sand and I couldn’t breathe when I was in the pack running. So I slowed down and walked and got out of the pack. Once the dust settled I could run again. It was probably my worst 10k time ever but I absolutely loved the course. After I got home from the 10k I went right back out and did another 10 miles for a total of 16 for that day. This coming weekend I have a half marathon I am the 3 hour pacer for and after I get home I will be doing 5-7 miles. I haven’t decided if I want to do 18 or 20 miles total yet. 18 is what’s on the schedule. I am getting there, slow and steady.
My injury in September really took a toll on my feet. My left foot is recovered but I am still having issues with my right. It is plantar fascitis so it’s just going to take time. If I take a couple days off in a row my foot is fine. I just have to keep telling myself to take it easy and walk if I need to. My walking pace is under a 15mm so I am good to walk if needed. The only other thing i’m worried about injury wise is my hip. I am trying to figure out if i’m just getting old or if i’ve done something.
I can say I am thankful for the cooler weather! I can breathe much easier without the humidity and that means I can run farther. So I have been playing with my intervals. The lack of heat and humidity also means making adjustments when it comes time for my nutrition. I was able to do a couple half marathons with no nutrition or even water in October. I have been playing around on my long run days and still need to work on this. My attempted 20 miler a couple weeks ago turned into a 17 miler after I bonked hard due to nutrition issues. Good thing I only had 16 miles actually scheduled that week.
So that’s how my Hot Mess is currently doing with my marathon training. It’s not perfect but i’m out there. Definitely not relying on Tinkerbell’s Pixie Dust to get me through this marathon. Who does that anyways?