Sunday 1 April 2007

7 weeks til the Colorado Colfax Marathon

Isn't it funny that I am not worried about running 13.1 miles in the half-marathon - but I am mostly worried that continuing to train for it is just asking for injury. I have really backed off the mileage. I hope I don't regret it.

I ran only 11.73 miles last week. Here are the reasons for the low mileage: we had snow 2 days, high winds a couple more, I had insomnia for four night and felt horrible! In March my total was 75.59 miles. As I write that, I realize that really IS a lot of miles. I ran 90 miles in January... so getting down under 20 miles a week seems like "slacking" to me.

The other discouragements are: I have gained a bit of weight. When I tell people this, they assure me that as I train, I am gaining muscle and changing my body composition. It would be nice to believe that, but the fact that my jeans are now tight, and my belly is now slightly hanging over tells me that this is not muscle and it is not good. But I have to eat to train and I am doing just that! The other discouraging thing is that my times for my runs are slowing. I think this means I am going to have to get back on the treadmill once or twice a week. Instead of the wonderful runs outdoors daydreaming with the trees and the fresh air, I need to get on the dreadmill at the gym - where I can set the pace to a 9 or 10 minute mile and work on some speed.

I can't believe I am looking forward to training for the triathlon because it will be a break from the half-marathon training. It is fun to ride a bike and swim. Bike riding is my favorite sport of all time, and I am even good at it! I find swimming almost meditative.

Thanks for the encouraging comments. I really appreciate you bloggers!

2 comments:

Debbi said...

I worry about injuries at this point as well, MC. As for the low miles this week -- just think of it as an "easy" week. When I generated my training schedule from Runner's World magazine they put two easy weeks into the mix.

As for doing a triathlon ... I'd drown before the first 10 strokes. I never go swim in open water without a flotation device!

Faithful Soles said...

Trust in your training so far and don't panic about the low mileage week. Just keep at it as you have before and you will do fine. As for the triathlon, I started training for my first Ironman about 3 weeks ago and am finally getting the hang of the swimming.

If you get a chance, please visit my running web site, Faithful Soles. I have a categorized and searchable Running Blog Database on there and would appreciate it if you would link your blog to it. I also have my own blog, but most of my information is on the main web site. Thanks and continued good luck in your training.