Last Friday was Quit Day, the unofficial mark of the most common day for people to quit on their new goals for the year. If you’re reading this, I hope you haven’t given up yet. If you have, I hope my little summary of my goals inspires you to reconsider. I am posting my goals for 2026 as accountability to myself. If you don’t say them out loud, goals are just dreams. I have some personal and family goals that I’d like to keep private but here are (most of) my 2026 goals:
Take my son into the woods for a boy’s trip. My son is turning 1 year old this spring. He’s too young for me to take him for an overnight camping but I want to go to Busiek, just him and I once he’s weaned off breastfeeding.
Ready her first fiction chapter book with my daughter. She is a very smart girl and I think she’ll be at the point this fall where she will be able to handle reading a book without pictures. I’m so proud of her.
Teach my daughter how to swim. I am really excited for this summer. We have had some friends who have already taught their kids how to swim and we are really excited for her to learn so she’s a little less afraid when she’s in the pool. She loves swimming but she’s (rightfully) afraid of putting her head underwater.
Finish reading the bible by August. This one has been a long process. I’ve been trying to get through the Bible since last summer so my hope is to finish it in just over 1 year if I finish by the end of August.
Run 1,200 miles. I ran 1,200 miles in 2025. With no marathon on the calendar, I don’t want to set an expectation that I’m going to blow that number out of the water this year. I think running 1,200 miles this year would be a great achievement since many of my races will be shorter distances (2 5Ks, 1 10K, 1 Half-Marathon)
Run 30 miles on my 30th birthday. I am excited to give this a try. 30 miles will be a new distance PR for me and I decided a few weeks ago that it would be cool to run my age in miles at the start of every decade (30 at 30, 40 at 40, 50 at 50, etc.)
Ready 6 fiction or nonfiction books. This one I have a great start on! I finished Atomic Habits by James Clear. I saved this goal for last because I actually want to share a bit about this book. Many times, people quit on their goals because they haven’t set themselves up for success by creating new consistent habits that match their goals. This book was super helpful for understanding human behavior and what I can do to improve my own habits. Here’s a summary: To create a new habit: Make it OBVIOUS (meaning make the cue to start the habit obvious. For example, when my alarm goes off, I wake up and put on my running shoes). Make it ATTRACTIVE (pair something you enjoy with the habit, like a podcast you love or join a club of likeminded people). Make it EASY (the habit should take less than 2 minutes to complete at first, remove as much friction as possible). Make it SATISFYING (give yourself the reward at the end, track runs on a calendar or app to record progress or drink your favorite smoothie afterwards). To break a bad habit: Make it INVISIBLE (hide the cues. For example, stop buying M&M’s at the grocery store so they aren’t around the house). Make it UNATTRACTIVE (create a negative association with the habit. For example: sugar will disrupt my sleep or cause me to crash in the afternoon). Make it DIFFICULT (create an environment that makes the bad habit difficult to follow through on). Make it UNSATISFYING (have an accountability partner you have to text when you complete the bad habit or track the days you don’t complete the bad habit)
The book was really helpful for me and gave me some new tips on how to continue to stay engaged mentally with my goals even when life gets in the way or the training gets boring.
It’s a question I’ve been asking myself quite a bit lately now that I’m in between training cycles. With the marathon behind me and looking forward to some faster races in the spring/summer, I’m having some trouble coming up with an answer. I shared already how bulking provided a new training stimulus and I enjoyed the change of pace of it all, but now that I’m staring down the barrel of a new racing season and cutting some weight back down, I’ve found the off-season to feel a little awkward to navigate. I am not throwing down any 40 mile weeks right now and I don’t plan to do so until I get closer to my 30th birthday 50K (more on that in the future).
There is much value in being a well-rounded person. Not just in fitness, but in life. I don’t want to just be an encouraging manager, a fast runner, a loving father. I also want to be a servant-hearted husband, a dependable friend, a strong athlete. When I trained for my marathon, it forced me to focus almost solely on running. I did little else in terms of fitness. If I had time to train, I spent that time running. I had to neglect other areas of my life: I sacrificed Saturday mornings with my family for my long runs, I sacrificed strength in the gym for threshold workouts, I sacrificed quiet reading time in bed for extra hours of sleep to optimize my recovery. While this off-season has left me feeling a bit lost at times, it taught me the importance of looking at my life holistically. I am able to return, not just to strength training, but other things that bring fullness to my life: family breakfast on Saturday mornings (I’m always in charge of eggs and bacon), spending time studying God’s Word, weekend walks with friends and family, sleeping in on occasion, and reading fiction books.
Jocko Willink says that discipline gives us freedom. He’s right, to a point, but we can become enslaved to many things, even good things, if we idolize them. This includes running, lifting and nutrition. Freedom comes from Jesus alone. Discipline and obedience give us freedom only when they are yoked in service to the ultimate goal: obedience to Jesus Christ.
I realize I haven’t answered the question I posed at the top of this blog. What now? Plainly stated, this off-season is a realignment of my training goals in service of my primary goal: to live in obedience of Christ, to serve and love my family well, to be a better man each day.
As I said in previous blogs, I decided to spend the weeks/months after marathon training bulking. My goal was to build as much muscle as possible while gaining as little fat as possible simultaneously. This was not going to be a “dirty” bulk, a term I learned recently which basically sounds like eating junk food while going to the gym. My diet in terms of content changed very little but the volume increased significantly. I started adding more egg whites to my breakfast, started eating whole milk greek yogurt more consistently, little things like that.
My goal was to gain 0.5-1lb per week. This meant my bulk would last somewhere between 5 weeks and 10 weeks. With the changes to my diet, my increased weight training, and my decreased run volume, I was able to gain 6.7 pounds over 7 weeks. My body responded very quickly to the stimulus changes which was a good sign, and somewhat surprising. I stepped on the scale this week at 180.1 pounds. Just by the 7ish pounds of weight gain, my VO2 max dropped by 2 ml/kg/min and I don’t want to lose my aerobic base as I gain weight. I’ll begin the cutting phase next week very slowly and I’ll be de-loading creatine as well. This will result in massive water loss initially.
There’s no way to no for sure without a scan or ultrasound, but I estimate that I gained 2 pounds of lean mass during this short bulking phase. That may not sound like a lot, but for someone who is focused primarily on running and is still a beginner when it comes to weight training, this was a big success for me. I found a lot of strength gains specifically in chest pressing movements, push-ups, pull-ups and curling movements involving biceps/triceps. I’ve always been pretty strong in my legs so the only noticeable change there was adding weight to my Bulgarian split squats. As I prepare for a new training block for Rock the Parkway in April, I am reminded that my goal is not just to run well today, but to build a healthy life that I can carry with me into old age.
Was bulking fun? Yes. I love to eat. I’ve been watching and reading a lot of Peter Attia content recently and one of the biggest health indicators as we age is muscle mass. As a runner, I haven’t given much thought to building muscle. I’ve devoted much more thought and energy to building a strong aerobic engine and my heart. I think this little post-marathon recovery and weight training block was really helpful as a reminder to be a well-rounded athlete and person in general. Yes, running is my main priority. No, I don’t plan on becoming a bodybuilder. But building muscle is for everyone and I don’t want age to dictate when I have to stop enjoying my hobbies. I want to run 30 miles on my 30th birthday but I also want to run 50 miles on my 50th.
Becoming a Dad has made me take the long view of my life. When I was in my early 20s I was a mess. I made up in my mind that I wouldn’t live past 30. Now, when I look into the eyes of my children I see the next 20, 30, 40 years of my life flash before me. I know that every day that I wake up is a tender mercy from God, I know that so much of this life is out of my control. But God has made me steward of my family and being a good steward as a new(ish) Dad means taking good care of the things and people around me.
During the long days of training, especially in he month of October as the race got closer, I found myself daydreaming about my goals this late fall and winter.
The first thing I’m excited about is lowering my weekly mileage back to 10-15 miles per week. This is the biggest one because as much as I love to run, I don’t love the longevity implications of being skinny in my 20s. I am going to make building muscle a primary focus this fall by weight training 3 days per week. I hope to get stronger so that I can go into my next training block with lean mass that will make me faster.
I am also excited for the strength training! I am inexperienced but I have learned a lot this year and I think the low hanging fruit in improving my running form and speed lies in the dumbbells in my basement.
My schedule for training this fall/winter will look like this: Monday 5 mile easy run Tuesday Lift Wednesday Tempo/Threshold 5K Thursday Off Friday Lift Saturday 10K Long Run Sunday Lift
I have a high volume Workout A and a lower volume Workout B which I will alternate between for each lifting day. I decided to alternate between the two that way I have some weeks with higher volume (two Workout A’s) and some weeks with lower volume (two Workout B’s). This will help prevent injury since I’m still new to lifting and getting used to some of the exercises.
12/10
I ran the Turkey Trot in Austin a few weeks ago. I had aspirations of placing top 15 for that race but when I found out that almost 2,500 people signed up, I decided to adjust that goal to break top 50. I placed 43rd, 35th of the men, and 5th in my age group! Given how competitive the central Texas running community is, this result is probably one of the best I’ve ever had. This was not a flat course, there’s almost 300 feet of elevation gain (and it’s a 5k!). I ran a negative split of 7:17, 7:07, and 6:30 with a dead sprint to finish out the last tenth of a mile. Average pace of 6:57/mile. This result bodes well for my ability to run well in my races next year since this race didn’t have a training block, no taper, and I had hamstring soreness from a heavy workout three days prior. Running isn’t a priority in this season but it felt great to throw down a fast finish time on Thanksgiving Day. I’m thankful for my family, for the health and ability to train hard, and the fact that I have so many people in my corner cheering me on.
It’s been almost six weeks since my marathon. I’ve been doing a mini “bulk” phase to support muscle growth as I strength train. I don’t have any more races on the calendar for 2025 so improving my aerobic capacity isn’t a priority right now. Since November 2nd, I have gained 4.5 pounds which averages out to approximately 0.9 pounds per week. Once I get to 180 pounds (which I anticipate hitting next Monday) I will start cutting weight down. My goal is to go into the spring racing season at 167 pounds or so. I have two races of different distances that I’m excited about: Rock the Parkway in Kansas City and the Potter’s House 5K in Springfield. I’ve focused on strength training 3 days per week and running 3 days per week. The lower volume of running has been good for me because I haven’t had as much time to train with Thanksgiving, holiday travel, kid sickness (it’s flu season!) and things like that. Having a full gym in my basement has been a massive blessing as the weather gets colder.
Since getting back from our Thanksgiving holiday, the kids and Lane have been sick almost nonstop. Lane had an upper respiratory infection which prevented her from running the Turkey Trot with me. John got an ear infection when we got back to town which caused him to not eat very well and since he’s breastfeeding, that caused Lane to get mastitis. THEN, Joy woke up with a fever yesterday morning. It’s been nonstop unfortunately so we’re all just hanging on by the seat of our pants right now. Some weeks, the training goal is just this: survive.
I wanted to dedicate a blog specifically to a full mile by mile breakdown to provide some context and talk about some of the lessons I learned throughout the training process. I’m writing today to give a full breakdown of the race. My brain has been scrambled in the couple of weeks since I ran, and I’ve finally found time to sit down and unpack different moments from the day.
I went into this race afraid of hitting “the wall”. Because of this, I asked ChatGPT how many carbs I should be eating per day leading up to the race. I overdid it. Because I did much of my training fasted, and even ran some of my long runs fasted (I did my 17 mile run with no gels, only the overnight oats I ate in the morning). Because of this, my body was very accustomed to burning fat for fuel. My gut had no idea what to do with the extra carbs on race day. I was shooting for 500 grams on the Friday and Saturday before the race which was really difficult. I felt bloated and heavy over the weekend.
On Sunday morning, I woke up feeling fine, if not a bit heavy. It was 4:45 AM and I immediately ate my overnight oats. I went to the bathroom twice in the span of 90 minutes which I ascribed to race day nerves. However, with hindsight, I think it was foreshadowing of what was to come later.
When I got to Bass Pro, I did some light jogging around the parking lot. It was 28 degrees when the gun went off so I was wearing gloves and a long sleeve base layer over my singlet. Lane and I planned to meet at the 7 mile mark so I could toss my gloves and top layer to her.
I kissed her goodbye as the gun went off. The cold air was pierced with the sound of hooping and hollering from people around me as I started my watch and ran off into the front facing wind.
Mile 1: I took a gel within the first 5 minutes. Going back to my anxiety about bonking later in the race, ChatGPT advised me to take a gel early to top off my glycogen supply. I went out very conservatively, I ran the first mile in 9:02. I was getting passed by a lot of people, but I kept my eye on the prize: I wanted to pass people in the last 10K, not in the first 10K.
My shorts and left shoe came untied right before the first mile concluded. The gels were weighing them down and I had to hike them up every few strides. I tried tying my shorts as I ran but it was impossible with my gloves. There were aid stations every 2 miles so I decided to wait and re-tie everything then. I had to pee anyway, so I figured I’d knock all those things out and “reset” myself mentally.
Mile 2: I finished the second mile in 8:57. Both port-a-potties were taken so I stopped off, tied my shorts and shoes, and kept going. I knew I could hold it for a couple more miles. The shoes and shorts were not an issue again for the remainder of the race.
Mile 3-5: Mile 3 was right on pace, I was able to settle into my rhythm pretty easily after the short re-tie. I ran mile 4 somewhat quickly (8:56) because I knew the bathroom break was coming. The port-a-potties were occupied at the aid station but this was where I knew I had to stop. I had to wait in line for about 2 minutes which was frustrating. The anxiety of seeing dozens of people pass me as I hopelessly waited for a stall to open up was overwhelming. Mile 5 was 10:12, a full minute off pace. I resolved to make up the time lost over the next few miles.
Miles 6-8: These were strong miles: 8:55, 8:50, 8:50. As I said before, I was in “make up time” mode. More experienced marathoners might warn against this and advise someone in my position to hold back and make up for lost time in the back half of the race. Those people might be right but as a first timer, I was eager to get back to a solid pace as quickly as possible. At mile 7 I passed Lane and the kids and I gave her my top layer and gloves. As I passed by I told her, “we’re a little behind pace but we’ll make it up.”
Miles 9-10: I was running strong at this point but I settled back into race pace: mile 9 at 9:00 and mile 10 at 9:02. We were running down Jefferson and about to head east along the Greenway. This was the point where I picked up a stranger turned friend, a West Point graduate named Cody. We ran together for approximately 3 miles.
Mile 11: I noticed a rib stitch develop at this mile. I had become accustomed to running through pain like this so it wasn’t overwhelming, just something to monitor. I decided I might give myself an “off” mile if I needed it to let the pain subside before picking back up. This mile was still a solid 9:08.
Mile 12: This was my “off” mile. I ran it in 9:20. I thought the pain would go away here but it didn’t. I decided against giving my body more off time and picked back up to marathon pace.
Miles 13-16: These 4 miles were challenging with more hills than at any other point in the race up until now. We had several steep climbs, a couple downhills as we ran through the aptly named Southern Hills neighborhood. At mile 15 I started running with a new stranger turned friend named Justin. He’s a father of 3 who lives in Kansas. By mile 16, he left me behind. I was able to maintain marathon pace but that was no longer an easy task. The rib stitch was still present and I tried putting it out of my mind. I decided, “it’s not going away, find something else to focus on.”
Mile 17-18: Well, my brain responded and gave me something new to focus on. Bubble guts. Coupled with the rib stitch, my body went into full gastrointestinal failure. I was gingerly running with brief moments of walking at this point. By the time I arrived at the Mile 18 aid station, I was in full blown walk/run mode. I would fluctuate between moments of temporary stomach relief and overwhelming stomach pain that would cause me to double over and grind my stride to a screeching halt. Mile 17 was 10:37 and Mile 18 was even worse: 12:11.
I saw Lane and the kids at the aid station here. Seeing them cheer me on gave me some mental “juice” to keep going. As I passed her, I said, “if I can fart just one time, I know I can keep going.” I really felt like I had one bubble that just needed to pop so I could finish the race.
Miles 19-22: To my surprise, I rebounded. The pain subsided and I kept expecting it to come back, but it didn’t. These 4 miles put me back into the exact mental groove I needed. I didn’t feel good enough to make up for lost time, so after a brief moment to grieve what I knew would be a lost goal of breaking 4 hours, I settled back into my pace. Here are the splits: 9:06, 9:03, 9:09, 8:43.
Mile 23-24: Running mile 22 in 8:43 was a mistake born from a desire to make up time. I overplayed my hand and my body made me pay for it. I had to walk the majority of the next two miles. This was the second and final instance of total GI collapse in the race. Mile 23 was 10:44. Mile 24 was where the wheels completely fell off. At one point I had to lean up against a wall because of the stomach pain. I found myself getting emotional during this point, even shedding a tear as I felt my time slipping further. I kept repeating to myself, “Thankfulness, be thankful for this,” over and over. That helped me stay in it mentally. Mile 24 was completed in 15:30.
Mile 25: I was able to get back to running for this mile, I only had to walk for a couple seconds early in the mile but as we began our ascent up the final hill of the race, I was able to run, albeit cautiously for the rest of the race. I completed mile 25 in 9:30
Mile 26: I was proud to run this final full mile at race pace. I completed mile 26 at 9:11 pace.
Final kick: After two full running miles, it was time for the final push. I decided to go all out. I thought to myself, “the wheels have already fallen off twice, what does it matter if they fall off a third time?” I ran this final stretch at 7:10/mi pace, passing someone in the last 100 yards and proving to myself that this race was not lost due to lack of aerobic fitness, but due to fueling issues and overconsumption of carbs. I’m proud of how I finished this race and that’s something I will take with me into every race I run going forward.
There’s a lot of takeaways from this race. The main one is nutrition. I have to prioritize training my gut for the next race. I didn’t prioritize it during this block. I did most of my training fasted, I rarely ate beforehand except for my long runs. Even with the weekend runs, I only fueled beforehand once the long runs exceeded 12 miles. In fact, I even did my 17 mile run with no gels. My body was very accustomed to burning fat for fuel during training and my body didn’t know what to do with the extra glycogen available during the race. My heart rate hovered mostly in the low 140s which means much of the glycogen in my body was just fermenting in my gut, causing the GI distress. I could’ve probably loaded on carbs much more lightly (350g per day or so) and had plenty for race day. Assuming my heart rate is similar next time, I can go into that race confident that I don’t need to stuff my face with carbs.
Here’s an interesting statistic I saw: my bib was able to keep track of how many people I passed and how many people passed me at different splits from the race. In the first 10K, I passed 10 people and 97 people passed me (this was to be expected, given the bathroom stop). In the final 12.2 kilometers, I passed 26 people and was passed by 5 people. This race was far from perfect but I can hang my hat on having a really strong finish.
The biggest takeaway from this race is that I showed up to the starting line healthy and I crossed the finish line healthy. I am focusing on strength training this winter, lifting 3 days per week and running 3 days per week. I am looking forward to building muscle and running a strong half-marathon in Kansas City next April.
1,094.77 miles run in training. 165 hours 50 minutes 19 seconds in total.
93.75% of scheduled workouts completed. 23 speed training sessions.
Longest distance run in training: 19.9 miles (1.8 miles of this during a game of ultimate frisbee)
PRs during training: 5K at Run for Hope in Branson in July (20:29) 10K one random morning in September when I felt fresh (46:12) Half-Marathon during a 17 mile long run speed session with Elliott (1:58:38)
VO2 Max increased from 54 ml/kg/min to 57
I have put off writing this blog because my brain feels so scrambled as I reflect back on this year. I don’t know how to fully encapsulate my experience in training, the race itself, the fueling issues, the support I received from my family. There’s a lot to say.
I guess I’ll start here. My wife is the most incredible human being on earth. Training for a marathon takes a lot of time and that has been one thing our family has had less of this year. She has picked up the slack throughout the year with the kids, with the family schedule and countless things that aren’t coming to mind right now.
“Do you want to run before dinner when you get home?” I tried to do most of my runs in the morning before the kids woke up but whether due to sleep problems, sickness, or time changes, Lane was always willing to bend so I could go out and train. She would text me at work asking about what was on the calendar and how she could support me. I am incredibly grateful for the seen and unseen sacrifices she made throughout the year. She would listen to me ramble about random insights I had about my running mechanics, about how my strength training was going, what I was looking forward to when the taper started. It was all pretty boring but she has this incredible way of listening to things that are important to other people and making them feel like they really matter, even if the subject matter is mostly trivial or uninteresting to her. She knows I have a tendency to daydream and our marriage has provided me a place to dump those thoughts. She’s the best listener.
The week of the race we spent much of our quality time pouring over the course map, memorizing aid stations and nutrition availability at each, port-a-potty locations and talking about where she and the kids would meet me throughout the course. The radar showed a significant temperature drop on the morning of the race so we planned out where I’d give her my gloves and my top layer. We decided on Mile 7 which was about a quarter mile from our house. We could’ve spent those nights watching tv or leaving her alone to read a book, but she chose to make herself part of this process. I’m so thankful for that.
My mother deserves a mention. She ran the Suzuki Rock ‘N Roll Marathon in San Diego in the summer of 2001. Throughout my training she was generous with her encouragement, advice, and even took time to dig through old files and storage to find some memorabilia from her race. It was fun to talk with her about it and to celebrate this mini tradition continuing in our family. She texted me the morning of the race at 5:36 AM, “Breathe,” was all she said. It was perfect.
I have delayed in writing this blog because it feels like I need to capture every thought, every detail, everything I’m thankful for but the idea of waiting to post until I’ve done so is overwhelming. I’m sure I’m leaving out too much, too many people, too many moments. To anyone and/or to anything else left unsaid, thank you.
The knee is still stiff but getting better. I’ve noticed that if I’m sitting with the knee bent more than 90 degrees, it’s really hard to stretch it back out so I’m trying to keep the leg straight as much as possible. I am going to run 2 miles after church this afternoon to shake the legs out and see how I feel.
Since this was just a shakeout, I kept the pace really easy and managed the run based on heart rate. Today, because the sky was overcast and the temperature hovered around 54 degrees all day, my heart rate stayed really low (average of 125BPM). That sounds great in theory but it meant that I couldn’t get my internal temperature raised and blood flow pumping to my knee so it never loosened up but it didn’t get any worse. I was able to run the entire time without breaks so this was a net positive.
10/27
Today I decided to rest. I noticed the knee was getting better throughout the day and I figured if I gave it one more full day off, I might be pain free tomorrow. I took a short walk around the office park but other than that, we focused on getting good sleep and eating carbs. I’m noticing that eating enough carbs is really difficult. I’m barely hitting 300g on a good day. I’m going to have to make a concerted effort to hit 600+ grams on Friday and Saturday.
10/28
I completed my 5 mile dress rehearsal in my full kit. Hilariously, this is my longest run of the week. My instincts were correct: the knee felt great when I woke up. Here’s the workout structure: 1 mi warm up, 4 mi @ marathon pace. The warm up felt easy and I completed the 4 miles at 8:36/mi, about 15-20 seconds faster than my goal pace. This run gave me a ton of confidence. Coming into the week with knee pain was not ideal to say the least so I’m really happy with today’s result.
The rest of the week is going to be heavily focused on nutrition and sleep. I doubt I’ll have much to report as far as the actual miles go between now and race day. Like I said, hitting these carb goals is really challenging without overloading on fat (turns out you shouldn’t carb load with ice cream and chocolate). I’m forcing myself to eat more oats each day and add more fruit to my diet. I’m eating an apple and an orange everyday.
10/29
I had to sleep in today. Joy is having some trouble sleeping and I don’t have a structured run or workout, just active recovery/mobility so I’ll jog to and from bible study tonight. It’ll be a 2 mile recovery run. I ate oats and an apple for breakfast, an orange for a snack, leftover egg/ground turkey slop bowl for lunch, and this evening I’m going to try to eat grilled cheese and tomato soup without adding too much fat to my macros (spoiler alert, that’s probably not going to happen because Lane puts bacon and avocados on them and who am I to argue with the chef?).
This meal is one of my all time favorites of the winter season. Anytime the weather is gross, and it’s wet and cold and grey outside, Lane makes a meal like this one to improve morale. I don’t know if there’s any science to it, but I swear it improves my mental health. I had a big grilled cheese sandwich and about a cup of tomato soup, just enough to fill me up without ruining my jog to bible study at 7 PM.
I just got back from bible study. Nothing to report on the run. My heart rate was slightly elevated on the way there because I was still digesting dinner but other than that, it’s another low volume day just like every other right now.
10/30
I wanted to catch up on some sleep today and we set a new routine for Joy to help her sleep. She slept through the night! Praise God. We all woke up in a good mood around 6:55 AM and it was fun to have a little extra time together as a family this morning before work. I’m going to rest today, maybe do a super light lift in the garage just to stretch the muscles a bit. Tomorrow is full rest.
I can tell I’m tapering correctly because my body is craving a long run. I have no fatigue left, just excitement and nervousness.
10/31
Today is another rest day. I’m getting somewhat sick of them. The problem isn’t just the rest, it’s the rest plus carb loading. I am finding it really difficult to eat sufficient carbs each day. I was supposed to eat 500-600 grams of carbs and I came in just under 500 grams. I am going to try to hit 500 or 550 tomorrow. We’ll see how the shakeout run goes, I think that’ll be a good indicator tomorrow.
11/1
It’s the day before the race! I woke up feeling really fresh and spent time with the family in the morning. Lane had to go to the DMV so I cuddled with Joy and watched Finding Nemo and then played with John on the floor while she was gone. We had a really fun morning.
I did a 3 mile shakeout and decided to run the part of the marathon route that goes through my neighborhood. They had all the signage out for each mile and it was fun to mentally simulate the race day experience as I went. I envisioned seeing Lane and the kids at mile 7, picking up a gel at mile 8, the sun shining down on S Jefferson as we approach mile 9. I’m excited tomorrow. I’m not nervous (yet).
We spent time as a family by going to the expo at Bass Pro after the run. It was really fun to see all the different businesses and nonprofits supporting everyone. I picked up my t shirt, a couple energy drinks, an iced coffee and talked to a lot of different people. A marathon expo is an extrovert’s dream. I had a lot of fun.
The legs feel good. The hay is in the barn. Now, it’s time to trust God. He’s in control of the results. I’ve trained well. I’ve tapered well. I control the inputs, He controls the outputs.
I felt really good Sunday morning. Woke up around 7:20 and got the kids ready for church with Lane. We had donuts at church (old fashion glazed are our favorites). We went to Costco afterwards to pick up some bulk items we’ve been needing for awhile.
I have been telling Lane for months now that I need a new mentor. My mentor from college and pre-marital counseling, Steve Proffitt, passed away four years ago due to some health issues and I haven’t done a good job of finding someone older to learn from and meet with consistently. There’s an older man at our church named Joe who I’ve gotten to know at a few of our Men’s Breakfasts and I’ve been meaning to reach out to him about getting lunch. I finally got his number and we’re getting lunch on Wednesday. I am excited to get to know him a bit more.
In the afternoon, I was inspired by my wife’s 10k effort so I hopped into the garage for a workout before the Cowboys game at 3:30 PM. I wanted to stick to upper body to save my legs for this week. Here’s what I did: 3 sets pull-ups 5 sets dumbbell bench press 2 sets barbell shoulder press 3 sets single-arm neutral-grip dumbbell row 3 sets trap-bar shoulder shrug 4 sets dumbbell lateral raise 1 set dumbbell hammer curl 1 set dumbbell skullcrusher 1 set dragon flags for core
This workout was a fun look into the future because I’m going to be spending significantly more time in the gym this winter. I am looking forward to it. This was a lower volume workout but I haven’t worked my chest in months so it was really challenging. I was surprised how weak my biceps, shoulders and chest are after so much lower body focus the last two or three months. I used to be able to complete three sets of dumbbell bench press with the 50lb dumbbells for 8 reps per set and I couldn’t complete more than 6 reps today. In fact, on my last set I failed the 5th rep. It felt good to push myself to muscular failure. I haven’t done that in awhile. It’s a very different feeling of exertion than my high intensity run/sprint workouts.
10/20
Well, this morning was off to a rough start. I try not to go into too much detail when it comes to my gut/GI issues when they pop up but that’s really all there is to say. I had a 3 mile easy run scheduled for today and at the 2.5 mile mark I started to feel the bubbles. I walked the last 0.2 miles home and narrowly avoided disaster. I’ll say this: if you almost crap your pants at 6 in the morning, it means that the rest of your day is guaranteed to go pretty well because you can only go up from there! Total stats: 2.94 mi @ 9:56/mi pace (including the walk at the end).
Lane and I went for a late dinner date night. My mom stayed back with the kids and she does a good job with Joy’s bedtime. My parents come in really often for work stuff and spending time with us. It has been a huge blessing and allowed us to have date nights even as we’ve struggled to adjust to two kids throughout the year.
10/21
I had a glass of wine with dinner last night. Lane and I had a great date night and bought Insomnia cookies afterwards. I knew the wine would be a problem. Lane and I hardly ever drink anymore and even thought we went with a fairly mild red blend, it still totally ruined my sleep. My HRV tanked to 114ms and my resting heart rate was elevated as my body tried to digest the alcohol. I didn’t wake up until 7:30.
I was on the fence about whether I’d make it a rest day or run in the evening after work. Lane texted me offering to let me run when I got home while she cooked dinner for the kids. What a blessing and gift it is to have a generous wife! I’m going to take her up on it.
I opted for a very intense threshold run. Here’s the structure: 1.5 mile warm up 3 miles @ lactate threshold pace (6:45/mi target) 0.5 mile cool down
I wasn’t able to nail the pace zone but I was able to sustain an average pace of 6:55/mi. The wheels started to fall off towards the end (the route had hills at the end of the long interval). If my math is right, this is likely the last hard workout of training before the race. Most of my runs now will be maintenance. I’m going to keep doing some short intense intervals but I won’t be adding any big volume or anything like that.
10/22
Another day, another day of not waking up at 6 AM. I’m finding it very challenging to wake up early for these workouts and I’ve been opting for evening workouts instead. I would really like to get back on schedule before my final taper week. The weather has started to get cold, it’s in the low 40s most days when I’m waking up in the morning so I have no motivation to get out of my warm bed in the morning. I’m going to log a few short miles this evening (just 2 or 3). Then I’ll get back on schedule with 400m repeats tomorrow morning.
When I got home from work, I took the kids to play outside while Lane did a 5K workout. We ate tortellini soup and I had John try a little bit. He’s starting to experiment with food and it’s really fun to watch him play with it. He actually ate a couple small bites of tortellini! He’s growing so fast. I can’t believe he’s 7 months old.
I wanted to mix in some anaerobic work into tonight’s easy run since it’s so short. After the kids went down, I went out and decided to include six 20 second sprints at 5:10/mi pace into the route. I have nothing else to report on this one. The run was easy and I enjoyed it.
10/23
I’ve gotta figure out this sleep thing. I was unable to wake up in time for my run. It’s supposed to be 400m repeats at 10k pace. It’s not super intense but I was hoping to have it done two days before my last long run and have a rest day in between. But it works out, we have house church tonight and Lane and I can spend some time together afterwards instead of doing this workout in the evening. I think a couple things happened: it’s getting colder overnight which is helping me sleep longer and deeper, and it’s darker in the mornings (daylight savings is next week) so my Circadian rhythm is telling my body to stay asleep later. I am deciding to set my thermostat to heat the house up to 70 degrees starting at 5 AM that way my internal body temperature warms up and I feel a little more willing to get out of my warm bed with my alarm. It’s supposed to be 57 degrees tomorrow morning so I should be a little more willing to get up than I have been on these mornings when it’s been in the low to mid 40s.
10/24
Success! I set four alarms to wake up and got out the door by about 6:20 AM. I completed the same run I was planning on doing yesterday. Here’s the full structure: 12 minute zone 2 warm up 9 400m intervals @ 10k pace (targeting 7:00-8:10/mi) 1 minute recovery jogging in between 10 minute cool down
I had some stiffness in my left knee and I wasn’t sure if it was a serious problem or not so I took the first two intervals very easy. I ran them at 7:43/mi and 7:31/mi each which allowed me to run a negative split across the remaining intervals. After the second interval ended, the stiffness was gone and I felt comfortable ramping up from there. The next seven intervals felt smooth. With the gift of hindsight, I should’ve structured these intervals to be a bit more challenging and maybe cut the total mileage down a bit. 7:30/mi pace just isn’t challenging enough for 400 meters. My last two intervals were run at 6:58/mi pace.
I guess the bright side is this: if you’re going to err on the side of caution and ease, that’s probably a good thing to do during my taper. I have my 9 mile long run tomorrow and I’m glad my legs will feel good. This run should have no impact tomorrow morning as long as I get good sleep tonight. Even though the timing doesn’t demand it, I’m going to still treat tomorrow as a dress rehearsal. I’ll wake up at 5, eat my oats, and try to be out the door around 6 AM. I will take one gel with me so I can keep getting accustomed to the flavor. I’m going to keep the run easy tomorrow.
10/25
Everything went according to plan today except my knee. Today is the second day in a row where I’ve woken up with stiffness. I inputted my symptoms to ChatGPT and it doesn’t seem concerning. I used this run as a test to see if the knee pain went away or got worse throughout the run. After about 15 minutes the pain was totally gone so it’s a good sign. I decided to pick up the pace in the back half of the run and the knee held up really great. I even did butt kicks to fully stretch the quad and knee and felt nothing in the leg. ChatGPT listed quad irritation as the likely culprit, something that apparently can happen during a taper when my body is adjusting to changes in my training. I didn’t know that was a thing until today.
I am somewhat nervous about the knee. This isn’t what I wanted to be dealing with in the final 8 days of training but I am hopeful that the leg will bounce back before race day. ChatGPT is pretty confident that it will. I’m going to try to keep my training plan the same as I had it before this flare up and see how my body responds. Tomorrow is an easy 2 mile shakeout and then I have one 5 mile dress rehearsal scheduled. That will be my longest run next week.
I’m attaching a video with some reflections from training. Next week’s blog will have a more comprehensive overview and breakdown along with some more thought out reflections on the race but I wanted to take a moment just to brag about how awesome my wife is and what I’m proud of.
It’s Sunday! Unfortunately the kids are still sick so we decided to stay home from church. We got a great night of sleep last night so I feel really good as I continue to recover from yesterday’s long run. A buddy from high school is driving through Springfield today with his wife so he’s going to stop by for some coffee later this morning around 11. I am excited to see him.
I watched football for most of the afternoon. Lane and I took the kids for a walk around the neighborhood after the noon games (cowboys lost) which was the perfect low impact cardio to keep my body active without adding fatigue to the legs. I noticed a little soreness in my right ankle but nothing too alarming. I plan to run 3-4 miles easy tomorrow so it’s important I continue to keep things easy and get good sleep tonight.
10/13
John had some trouble staying asleep last night. He leaked through his diaper around 2 AM so I didn’t wake up with my alarm. Despite the night time interruptions, I actually got decent sleep so I’m going to take advantage of that and try to complete this workout tonight after the kids go to sleep.
Lane texted me asking if she wanted her or I to workout before dinner. I said she should do it before dinner so she can have a break from the kids and I’d workout after bedtime. I always miss them when I’m at work and I know her job can be exhausting (Joy is going through a toddler meltdown phase right now). I got home and finished up making dinner and hung out with them while she did her strength training. I haven’t done any weight training in two weeks so I decided I’m going to do a hybrid workout tonight. 2 mile shakeout, then 20 minutes in the gym.
My legs felt incredibly heavy during the run. I experienced no pain but wow, that was a strange feeling. I don’t think I’ve had “heavy” legs like that in awhile. I ran 2 miles at 9:55/mi pace. Here’s the workout I did after: Barbell Skullcrushers x 5 sets Pull-ups x 3 sets Trap-bar Deadlift x 2 sets Candlesticks (core workout) x 3 sets Dumbbell Hammer Curl x 2 sets
Even though it was two workouts, this was pretty low volume for me and didn’t mess up my recovery. I plan to do my threshold run tomorrow morning around 6 (assuming I can get good sleep). I’m drinking magnesium on the couch while watching The Office with Lane.
10/14
Well, last night was another night of poor sleep. John is having tummy trouble. Lane is taking an antibiotic and we think that it’s causing him an upset stomach since he’s breastfeeding. We’re bummed. I slept through my 6 AM alarm and decided to do my speed workout tonight. I am fully recovered from the weekend and last night so I think I’ve set things up to have a good run this evening. Here’s the structure: 1.25 mile zone 2 warm up 5 x 800m @ 5K pace (6:15/mi pace if I’m feeling fast, 7:45/mi if I’m feeling sluggish) 1 min recovery in between Unstructured cool down (10ish minutes)
This should be approximately 5 miles, no more than 6 miles maximum. My training readiness is 100 according to Garmin so we’ll see how I perform today.
Okay, I’ll be honest that was one of the best workouts of my life. I feel really good. My goal was to run a negative split across all 5 half mile intervals and we were able to accomplish that this evening. Interval 1: 7:27/mi pace Interval 2: 7:04/mi pace Interval 3: 6:51/mi pace Interval 4: 6:41/mi pace Interval 5: 6:20/mi pace
My heart rate peaked at 174 BPM so we got plenty of aerobic work in without overloading my body with fatigue. I could’ve done a few more intervals if this were a typical training week but in my taper, my goal is to feel like I had a little more to give after each run. I don’t need to waste myself after every workout. That’s what peak week was for.
Lane made walnut pasta and homemade sourdough so refueling after the run was easy tonight. Most of my runs have taken place either before everyone wakes up or after everyone’s gone to sleep the last few weeks so it was nice to actually get a run in with the afternoon sunshine (even though it took 40 minutes away from time with the kids).
I was able to do part of bedtime routine for both kids though so that was a nice ending to the day. Joy really enjoys singing and we started singing worship songs as part of her routine after we read books together. She likes when I sing You Are Holy by Michael W. Smith and We Delight by Caedmon’s Call (shoutout to 90s worship music).
10/15
I woke up at 6 AM feeling really good so I think we’re back to our regular scheduled programming. Today is a marathon dress rehearsal. 5 miles at marathon pace. No warm up, no cool down, no fuss. I brought a gel with me to test my gut and wore my full kit. The run felt pretty good and the pace is really easy for me to settle into. I can listen to my body and my legs pretty well when I’m in this pace range. I took my Honey Stinger gel at the 35 minute mark to see how my stomach handled the last 10 minutes of running. Unsurprisingly it gave me a little bit of juice for the last mile and little to no discomfort. I’m feeling confident in using those for race day. Total stats for this one: 5.07 miles, 8:53/mi average pace, average heart rate of 133 BPM.
I have been doing all of my easy run/long run race prep in Brooks Ghost and Brooks Ghost Max shoes up to this point. I’ve used Brooks Hyperion Max 2 for my speed training. I don’t feel like a carbon plate is necessary for my marathon goal but I do want something that’s a bit more aggressive and after watching literally dozens of shoe review videos, I’ve landed on the Brooks Hyperion Max 3. From what I’ve seen, it’s a good race shoe for “bigger” runners (men who weigh more than 155 pounds) and it has a plastic plate and a rocker profile that’ll give me some extra pop. It’s still a comfortable shoe from what I’ve seen. I’ll do an easy mile or two in them on Friday and then 13-15 miles with them on Saturday as some final race prep.
10/16
I woke up a bit later than usual which my body thanked me for. I’m continuing to absorb all the training I’ve done up to this point and shedding fatigue from the last few big weeks. I wasn’t planning on training at all today but my shoes shipped a day earlier than I anticipated. I will do a 1 mile trial in them tonight after the kids go down to see how that goes.
I ran 1.3 miles at easy pace with 2 strides to see how they performed. First impressions: they’re fast. I purposely didn’t look at my watch during the first quarter mile. I felt like I was running around 10:10/mi. I looked down after 2 1/2 minutes and I saw that my pace was closer to 9:30/mi. This is definitely a race/speed shoe. I like the feel but I had some minor toe aching in my left foot and I’m not sure if that’s shoe related. I’ll monitor that during the long run Saturday.
10/17
This morning I woke up for a short run Friday morning. It wasn’t a workout, just an easy aerobic shakeout to keep the legs fresh for tomorrow. Sometimes, these runs are the best because I end up having no fatigue but I feel really alert and ready for action when I head to work. The other great thing, since this is my first taper week, I don’t have to check the mileage box like I so often had to throughout August and September. Total stats: 3.56 miles, 9:38/mi pace. I ran in my Ghost Max’s for this one, I want to keep my race shoes as fresh as possible.
We had friends over for desert and drinks after the kids went to bed. I had some apple cider, strawberries with cream, and muffins. It was a really wonderful evening with some friends from church. They didn’t leave until 10 PM and it may rain tomorrow morning so I’m not sure if I’m going to run in the morning or push it a day. I’m gonna try to get as good of sleep as possible and evaluate in the morning.
10/18
When I woke up, I wasn’t motivated. I told myself I’d get up and treat my routine as if I was running. I allowed myself the out if I needed it. I took a look at the radar and saw that the storm wasn’t going to start until around 8 AM. It was 6 when I looked at the weather app. “Either get out there now or it’s gotta wait until tomorrow,” I told myself. I decided to get out there. Ironically, the weather was perfect. It sprinkled on me for about five minutes but after that, it was clear skies and I got to watch the sunrise as I so often have throughout the late summer and early fall. It was a purple haze today, not as foggy as last week so thankfully I wasn’t running blind on the sidewalks for long. Because of the sketchy weather, I stuck close to home and ran my usual neighborhood 10k route twice instead of running to the Greenway.
I felt good today. I don’t think I would’ve had the motivation or the juice to complete a longer run but since I was able to get this one done in under two hours, I was able to keep my cadence up and my mind in a healthy place.
I almost forgot to discuss the shoes. As I said after my short run a couple days ago, these are fast shoes and that continued to be the case on this run. I ran my first four miles easy which is usually a 10:10-10:30/mi pace. With these shoes, my easy pace was 9:35/mi or so. At one point I tried to intentionally run slower than that but it felt unnatural. My heart rate confirmed that I was running the right pace. My heart rate hovered around 125 BPM during that four mile warm up. After that, I picked up the pace to see how the shoes felt and ran 7 miles at 8:38/mi. They’re definitely not as plush as the Ghost Max’s which I knew going in but they’re still pretty comfortable. I had no toe pain this time around. I will monitor how the legs feel throughout the day. I’m going to watch college football and do a family walk so there shouldn’t be a ton of activity or anything stressful to throw off my recovery. I am off tomorrow, maybe I’ll do a strength training session if I feel really good tomorrow morning.
Editor’s Note: I know this blog is “late” compared to other blogs I’ve done. I decided I want to post these after my weekly long runs going forward. Sorry to the two or three people who read this. I’ll be more consistent going forward.
10/2
As part of my rest day, I took a walk at work and did another walk with Lane and Joy and John in the evening. Joy is getting really fast. I know already that I am going to look back on these moments as a family when the kids get older. I am learning how to cherish this season of life, knowing that it’ll feel incredibly brief with the gift of hindsight. I said it to a friend last week, “Children are, after the mercy of God, the gift of Jesus and the joy of marriage-the truest measure of a man’s wealth.”
10/3
Today I ran 5 miles at an easy pace to get the legs warm in preparation for tomorrow. I mixed in 6 short strides at a 5:00/mi pace. Strides on easy runs are something I could stand to utilize more as a way to help my legs get warm more quickly. We are driving up to St. Louis tomorrow for Libbi’s (my sister-in-law) wedding shower so my morning long run routine will be a bit different but I’m going to bring my usual pre-run snack with me that way I can control as many variables as possible before I run 18 miles. The legs felt great today, I guess that’s to be expected since I missed my Tuesday workout for the second week in a row.
The biggest thing for me to focus on the rest of the day will be keeping my stress low at work and during the drive up to St. Louis. I am praying the kids sleep at least part of the way and are well behaved so we can make good time and not mess with their sleep routine too much. I am getting off at 3:30 today so we should be able to get on the road by 4:30 or so.
I am very thankful I was able to get off work early. It made packing the car so much slower paced and less stressful for everyone. John was able to sleep for a good portion of the packing up. Lane and I ate the left over chicken and rice from last night and we were able to hit the road by a little after 4:30 just like we planned. The kids did really well. Joy had to go to the bathroom about halfway through but John was able to mostly entertain himself and Joy watched a couple Scooby Doo movies. I’m really proud of them. I couldn’t imagine being stuck in a car seat for 3 hours. Sounds terrible. When we got to town, I hugged my in laws and headed straight to bed. Ideally I would’ve been asleep by 9/9:15 but we had to put the kids down at 8:30 and unpack the car so I was able to fall asleep around 9:45.
10/4
The kids are getting sick unfortunately. John had a rough night and because of my early morning, I wasn’t able to help overnight. I woke up a few times but didn’t feel too terrible when I woke up. I think I was sick last week because I don’t have any symptoms but I did have a bit of a sore throat, some fatigue and a low HRV.
I woke up at 5:05, a bit later than usual due to John’s sickness. He ended up spending the night in bed with us but I still managed to scrape almost 7 hours of sleep out of it. That was enough to go into the day’s run with at least a little confidence. The route today was going to be hilly, I knew that going in so I decided I would run with a distance and time goal in mind which was new. I told myself the goal was to complete 18 miles but not to run for more than 3 hours. This allowed me to run somewhat freely, knowing that no matter how hard I had to fight for each mile, I had an end point in mind. I subscribe to The Marathon Handbook and they did an article a few weeks ago about hours of training and at what point a recreational runner should “max out” their training. The research suggests that aerobic benefit returns begin to diminish rapidly around the three hour mark for a long run session, which coincides with the point where injury risk begins to climb exponentially. I’ve been using that research as a benchmark for my long run during peak week (next Saturday).
This wasn’t my favorite run. The neighborhood I ran in is a little too small to run significant distances without running loops over and over again which I pretty much did. One good thing from this run, there was a lot of hills throughout the run which meant that it was a lower impact on my joints overall. I was obviously still sore, it’s impossible not to be when I’m running that kind of distance but I recovered more quickly and effectively afterwards. I spent the rest of the day with family helping pack up Libbi and Hayden’s stuff while Lane was at the wedding shower.
I have realized that carb consumption is something of a blindspot for me. I don’t eat enough clean carbs (e.g. fruit) so I made a concerted effort to eat clean foods today. I had two honey crisp apples in the afternoon and a lot of sourdough bread. I think I did a pretty good job compared to some of my post run fueling in previous weeks.
Literally within an hour of typing this I found out that we’re having pizza for dinner tonight. If you know anything about me, you know that I have no discipline when it comes to pizza. I guess we’re gonna be a little high in fat content today. That’s okay. If there’s ever a day for it, it’s long run day.
10/5
Last night was rough. I’m really thankful that today is rest and recovery. I fell asleep on the couch listening to a podcast and Lane came in and woke me up after about an hour. My watch says that I got almost 10 hours of sleep but it was interrupted multiple times throughout the night. The kids are still sick and tonight was probably their worst night in terms of sleep. The whole family is sleepy today. My legs feel fine so I think I’ll be fresh for tomorrow’s run. I really hope I’m not getting sick. This week is my peak of training and I don’t want to miss any sessions if possible.
10/6
Well, it’s another rest day for me. I woke up feeling extremely groggy and sick so I went back to bed. Today was supposed to be a critical velocity session. I’ll move that to tomorrow. My training readiness was only in the mid 70s so running while fatigued with low HRV probably hurts my training more than it helps. I hate missing sessions but I have to go back to what I always say: we’re trying to be good, not perfect. I can still have a great training week if I rest effectively and don’t get sick with whatever the kids got.
10/7
Today is critical velocity training. I did a 1 mile warm up with strides, then 6 miles @ critical velocity (1 hour steady pace) which today was an average of 7:44/mi. Garmin counted this as a base run despite the fact that I ran about 80 seconds faster than my goal marathon race pace. Felt really good and steady throughout the run. Marathon training has taught me to enjoy speed training even though it’s tough. This was an enjoyable session.
10/8
I completed an easy run to and from bible study. I mixed in some strides tonight, something that I think I’ll continue to do for all of my easy runs to improve leg turnover and get used to running at different exertion points. I want to get better at accelerating and decelerating in a controlled manner. Not much else to report today.
10/9
This morning I woke up and got coffee with Travis. The weather is starting to cool down and he’s not keen on running in temperatures below 50 degrees. We’re not there yet, but he just had a baby a month ago and we needed to catch up. We went to El Cafecito which was fun because we got to see the shop’s expansion. Lane and I had a date night and I wanted to switch things up from our usual date ideas. We jogged from the house to Cherry Picker and had charcuterie and drinks. After that, we walked to Andy’s for custard and then walked home and talked on the porch. This wasn’t a training day, so there’s not a ton to report on. 1.9 miles at easy pace during the date. My legs felt no fatigue so I shouldn’t have trouble with tomorrow’s run. I’ll do 5 miles in the morning.
10/10
I got out the door a little before 6:20 AM and mixed in four controlled strides just to break up the monotony. I’ve started doing strides during my easy runs because they help my body warm up more quickly especially since 99% of my sessions take place in the morning within 10-15 minutes of waking up. This obviously doesn’t apply to my weekend long runs, I try to give myself a full hour after waking before I start those because I have to practice nutrition and hydration. Total stats today: 5.1 miles, 9:35/mi pace, average heart rate 128 BPM.
I feel really fresh as I prepare for tomorrow’s long run. I plan to run on “feel” tomorrow meaning I am going to run 15-19 miles depending on how things go. If I had to guess, tomorrow will be 16 miles with some marathon pace mixed in and a couple cool down miles. I need to be mindful of how I feel because I am going to play ultimate frisbee with some friends tomorrow morning after the run. I told them that I won’t be running but even if I just walk and jog, I need to be careful.
Another thing to note, I am trying new nutrition tomorrow. I bought a package of Honey Stinger gels. I tried one this morning after the 5 miles to see if the flavor was tolerable. It’s not bad, certainly better than anything else I’ve tried. I am going to bring three with me tomorrow and monitor my stomach throughout. My stomach is pretty resilient so I don’t think it’ll be an issue but it’s still important to practice. As per usual, my goal is to wake up around 5 AM, get food in my system by 5:15, and out the door by 6. If that rhythm continues to work, then I’ll feel confident going into race day where the gun doesn’t go off until 7. I’ve heard of some people who wake up as early as 3:30/4 AM. I hopefully won’t have to do that but we’ll have to play that by ear.
10/11
I woke up at 5:05, I was a bit slow getting out of bed and didn’t eat fully until 5:20 which I was a little worried about. I still managed to get my stretching and hydration done by 5:55 so I started the run a bit before 6. I decided to bring a water bottle with me since I wasn’t sure how far I would go. I ran the same route I’ve been doing the last month or so, down to Galloway and back. It became pretty clear to me that I had the stomach and the energy to handle 18 miles today as long as I kept the easy miles truly easy.
I did 4 miles at 10:03/mi pace, then settled in at 9:26/mi pace for the next 9 miles, then 3 miles at 9:01/mi and two cool down miles at 9:51/mi. This was the perfect final long run to me. I almost feel silly saying that since I’ve never completed a marathon training block or a marathon distance itself before but when it comes to running long distance, if I’m able to challenge myself without feeling like I’m risking an injury, I count that as a win and I felt that this morning. Total stats: 18.11 miles at 9:33/mi average pace. Heart rate: 133 BPM. I burned about 2,145 calories so I’ll be making carbs my main priority today. I took my gels at the 35 minute, 80 minute, and 115 minute mark. I definitely could’ve used one more towards the end of the run so I’m sure that I’ll need a gel at the 17 mile mark on race day.
I was able to play ultimate frisbee without issue afterwards. I chowed down on a big slice of sourdough when I got home and then headed straight to the field. I should’ve known going into this that I’d be too competitive to lightly jog and walk the whole time. I tracked it on my watch and Garmin counted this as a pretty intense anaerobic workout so the AI is telling me to take the next 4 days off which is a first for me.
I think I’ve said this before, maybe I’ve said it too much, but I’m looking forward to tapering. I am going to get more time with family in the coming weeks and we’ll get to do family breakfasts on Saturday mornings again. Training has taught me a lot of valuable lessons, I’m sure I’ll come back to this blog and capture some of those things after the race. For now,
David Taylor Gonzales 