I have been maintaining 15-20 miles per week since the Marine Corps 17.75K in April. However, this past week marked the beginning of official Marathon training. I will be running the Marine Corps Marathon on October 26th with my fellow Hysterrunner, Joy. We are doing the Galloway method which builds in long runs and recovery weeks and peaks at 26 miles before the taper. The belief is that by tackling 26 miles before race day it is less likely that you will hit the wall at mile 20-21.
This week’s long slow run distance was 13 miles. The weather was perfect – 62 degrees at the start. We’re running along a tree-lined trail early on Saturday mornings to beat the heat. As we both have several half marathons under our belt, this should have been a piece of cake. However, we realized that without the crowd support it isn’t. We did it though! As one of my Facebook friends posted afterwards – “Like a BOSS!” LOL!
Next week is a recovery long run – 5 miles – but I’m nervous about the 15 miler scheduled for the week after. That will be the furthest I have ever run. I’m sure that we will get through this training cycle one week at a time.
There will be days when I don’t know if I can run a marathon. There will be a lifetime knowing that I have – Unknown