Getting Close
Less than a month now to Grandma’s Marathon. Training is ongoing however it’s going gingerly at the moment. I am anxiously looking forward to the completion of my training and running the event.
Currently I am running every other day. I am hoping that my right leg will begin to improve with this approach. So far my legs do seem to be responding. I was able to get 8 miles in last night and the right leg feels better post run now than it did a couple of weeks ago.
The long run this weekend will be the biggest test and most likely an indicator for the marathon. On Sunday I will be trying to get 22 miles done. I may need to do a walk/run routine toward the end. If I need to walk/run during the run, I hope to make at least 16 prior to walking. I have the route all planned.
After this weekend my weekly distances will reduce each week. This part of the training is called tapering. The thought behind the tapering is that the muscles will begin a recovery process and will be ready to go by marathon day. Due to the fact that the marathon starts early in the morning, I’ll complete the runs during this part of the program very early in the mornings. My hope is that will than acclimate my body to getting up early and running. It will be quite important for me to stick to the tapering schedule and to stay within the reduced miles.
I hope to find some help during my marathon run. I have found that drinking about 6 oz of Gatorade every 2 miles works well for me. I can carry two 12 oz bottles in my hands so that gets me to mile 8. If I take water at some of the water stops, I can probably get the two bottles to stretch out the need for more Gatorade to somewhere between mile 12-14. So I am going to be looking for someone to replenish me along the course somewhere.