David Taylor Gonzales

10/26

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.

Keep Going!