Training Update IX (MCM): The Final Stretch

43 says, 17 hours to go...

With under 50 days to go until the race, we're in the final stretch now. With that in mind, I've been shifting away from the track work which proved so successful earlier in the program, and begun embracing more marathon-specific training.

This involves a few changes to what I've been doing.

First, I've moved a large bulk of my walking regimen away from forest trails and toward the road. That doesn't mean I never walk on trails anymore, but it does mean more time on paved surfaces, which is important because the course over which the race is run is also paved.

Another thing I've done involves the inclusion of longer, sustained runs on my days off from work. Whereas before any running I did also involved a substantial amount of walking, now I'm getting in actual sustained runs. This is important, because it is my hope to run the entire marathon distance. It may not work out that way, but practicing it could improve my chances. In training for my first marathon, I hardly ran at all outside a once-weekly track-workout. Indeed, my "longest" continuous run leading up to that race was a 5-miler I did with Dante and Dan not long before the race.  In spite of this dearth of running, I still managed to run the first 15 miles of the race, as well as portions of the last 11, and the whole of mile 26. Taking that into account, I'm making a better effort this time around to get in some more continuous running as the race approaches. In this way, I hope to survive the rigors of my job as well as those of the race. That is my hope at least.

Today I ran a little over 55 minutes on the treadmill, using the incline controls to mimic in miniature the terrain of the race course. So just as the first third of the race involves several climbs, including a rather steep, 200ft climb not far from the start, the first third of today's run focused on hills. Following that, I gradually increased speed over a long flat stretch, which is how much the rest of the race appears. Occasionally a small climb appears during this stretch, so I added  a climb or two in the midst of this gradual increase of speed. Finally a rather short but steep climb appears at the end of the race, so I finished with a steep climb at the maximum speed reached over the course.

I felt good doing all this, and would like to extend the effort next week as a way of becoming ever more adapted to the coming race and its challenges. In the mean time, it'll be doubly important to keep a healthy work/training balance, since the date of the race is not far off now, and a serious illness or injury could prove difficult. With that said, I'm really enjoying the training these days. I feel stronger every week, and look forward to the day when myself and 30,000 others begin our long romp through the streets of Washington, D.C. Only 43 days and 17 hours now. Let's keep at it!

Happy Friday, friends :)