Marathon Training: Week 2

What a great finish to the week! This week I trained 3 miles on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and then had a 7 mile run on Saturday. One of the biggest issues has been the heat here in Atlanta, it has been brutal!

In order to get my runs in, it has to be early morning or late late evening. Both of these are less than appealing options to a lazy guy like me. Regardless, I got off to a good start by running a 6:30 in the morning on Tuesday. I also found a nice flat course in hopes that it would be easy on my legs; It wasn't.

So after complaining to my wife Leslie, she helped me loosen up my calves in hopes to alleviating some shin splinting. I keep thinking about the marathon expert Jeff Galloway quote "no one has ever died from shin splints". Usually I am fine, but on days like Tuesday I wonder if I will be the first.

Getting in to work early on Wednesday ruined any plans to run in the morning. Plus I felt my legs could use a few more hours rest. This run came so close to not happening. After sleeping on the couch during the Braves game, I decided at 11:30 it was now or never. I ran my neighborhood and finished just after midnight. I felt better, but not great. The major downside to this was I wasn't going to sleep until 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning. I guess no Thursday morning run for me either.

Thursday was probably my best weekday run in a month. The first 2 miles felt great. I finished fine, but I always have aches and pains. It makes it hard to
motivate yourself to go run, when you know you are going to be hurting every piece of soft tissue in your lower body when you are done.

After the rest day Friday, I had 7 miles to do on Saturday. I was really anxious about how this may play out with the extreme heat and my aching body. I had planned to run in a slower group, but the slower group was only doing 5 miles. So, potentially against better judgement I decided to go out with the 9-10 minute group. I can hang with these guys for 5 miles or so but after that all bets are off.

The first 2 miles were about as I expected, ok but not great. It was really hot and quite hilly. After mile 3, I was encouraged by how good I felt. I was hanging with the group and I was starting to feel like I could finish with them. The last 2 weeks I have noticed someone in the group holding up so they didn't run away from me before the finish. I hate holding people up, so I hope today will be different.

By the time we reached the last water stop at mile 5, I knew I had enough gas to make it to the finish. I completed the 7 miles, and felt great about it. I am not sure if I have ever run that far before. Better yet, I didn't feel any pain in my legs. Hopefully I have turned a corner and it will be full speed ahead from this point forward. I have a similar week next week, but a step back run of 5 miles on Saturday. I will let you know how it goes.

Honk if you see me on the road, but please stop if I am in the road.