How I Barely Got Through the Hardest Part of Marathon Training

I feel it’s safe to say that many runners who work a 9-5 job, live in an area where the weather does not permit, or have families (and friends) go through the same predicament at some point in their training: early morning runs. Often times it is deemed out of absolute necessity because I know if I could, I would pick sunset running over sunrise running any time. But I want to enjoy my after-work hours with friends and family or bothering PB at home. When training started in the summer for me, early morning runs were even more necessary because it was the coolest time of the day (80F and 85% humidity was the coolest temp… seriously). Like many people, I still dread early morning runs and it’s still a full blown battle each time because who doesn’t like snuggling in bed?

But somehow they get done. Well, not without an actual plan. There is a good deal of preparation to ensure you’re able to get your ass out the door and get running at 4:00am. The actual run itself is not the hard part– it’s the getting your ass out of bed 😦 and actually having your body awake enough to get out of the house. There is no full-proof formula, otherwise everyone can do it. But there were some things I did that helped, and I need everything and a prayer (or three) to get through the darkest hour.

Week 10

I guess I failed to mention last week (mainly because I didn’t think it was that big of a deal) but Saturday when I was at Mercer County DBF, I rolled/popped out my left ankle just because I have an incredibly weak left ankle. Many years ago, I rolled my ankle and over the course of the following years, I rolled it numerous times. This was even before I started running so when I did take up running, it was always on the back of my mind. The first few times I remembered rolling my ankle, it was horrible. It swelled up to double its size for weeks and it took just as long before I could properly rotate it. I wasn’t able to go into the work the day after because I couldn’t walk. And I wasn’t able to get back into an exercise routine for a while. Now, almost anything can off set it. In February I was walking down the stairs at my pole studio when it suddenly popped out and I popped it right back in. I sat down for a few minutes, put some ice on it and next thing you know, I was walking out of the studio good enough. This past Saturday, I took a bad step walking out of the porti-potty and the same shit happened. I limped back, put some more ice and I went back out to finish a 500m race. Basically this is a new thing for me. Now when I “roll” my ankle, its so use to it, it takes almost no time for me to get back on my feet. This is a really bad sign because it just puts me at more risk for something to happen to it. Before I know it, I will have a flaccid ankle TT_TT When I’m 70, I’ll probably get an ankle replacement.

Week 9

Well this now marks being over halfway done with marathon training. However, my definition of celebrating this momentous event is doing a whole lot of nothing.

I did next to zero of running. My motivation was zero– to the point where I didn’t even regret not running this week. So I’m just going to call this my off week; even with my minimal mileage running plan 😛 And to be honest, it was pretty helpful because it made me miss running (just a little). When PB and I were driving along the Belt Sunday morning I saw all the bikers and runners and almost wished that was me there.

Week 8

The weather is quickly cooling down and I’m torn between being relieved and still wanting to hold onto summer temps. I love summer. I just hate summer running because running is already dreadful enough. But that also means I really have no excuses to skip out on my runs. This week’s running schedule was completed but due to the short week, I only had 4 days left to attempt everything… which was not successful. Barely any weight lifting or stretching 😦

Week 7

Bill Pierce does not play with his program. The past three long runs were 20, 18, 20 miles so I was in joy that this week’s long run was ONLY 13 miles.

Even though I’ve only completed one marathon so far, I already realize that marathon distances is a huge challenge for me. Rather significantly more difficult than training for half marathons. Besides the obvious that it’s double the distance, it’s less daunting for me to train a half marathon for a much faster time than it is for me to run a full in an okay time. Now that I write this out, it seems really silly. It’s not even fair to compare because I’m still a newbie infant marathoner and I’m already a toddler half marathoner haha. But I just know that I need to run more marathons to overcome this weird battle in me (hopefully)…

Week 6

Even though this week we didn’t have any races, it was still such a jammed packed week. There was lots of eating at the HKDBF team dinner celebration (with cake and ice cream) and the annual Robert Moses beach outing 🙂 I also finally took this class at my studio that I’ve been dying to go and I only got my butt to it because they were offering it for free. My run workouts were not to a tee again– my long run was suppose to be 20 miles but my head wasn’t in the game (without a good reason either) so I had to cut it short to 12. But it was all good because I made it up the following day when we went to Robert Moses and I found an easy path to the Fire Island Lighthouse. The weather was perfect too, chilly start in the morning and it heated up in time to even out our tans. It’s always a treat to run your miles in new places (or places you don’t often get to go). Finally, my parents came back from their five week long trip to KL and that means sampling all the snacks they brought back 😀

Week 5

Now on a new post race high from the Hartford Dragon Boat Festival filled with lots of free frozen yogurt (free t-shirts, lunchboxes, Frisbees, tote bags, sunglasses, magnets), Rita’s ice, blazing heat and HARDWARE! Hartford has always been a hit or miss for our team (more misses the past few years) so it’s awesome to come back for more redemption 🙂

In running news… This week’s running log has not been perfect but it’s pretty noteworthy because the worst weather and all technology dying on me had to happen on my long run.

Week 3

Sadly this is my first time fluking on my training program. Decided I wanted to sleep in Friday… more like I didn’t want to go to bed at 8pm. I planned to switch my long run day to Saturday morning before practice but PB’s treadmill needed lubing and there was no lube around 😡

Week 2

Well thanks to not diligently running after the Brooklyn Half Marathon, the soreness is definitely kicking in quick. However, I needed to take advantage of New York’s crazy weather because this past week, temps hovered around mid 60’s to high 70’s when we just had a heat wave the week prior. Oh New York.

Week 1

Officially completed! Probably the biggest accomplishment of the week was the long run: woke up at 3am, actually got out of the house at 3:45am, saw the weather (78°F, 80% humidity at threeinthefuckingmorning!?), said no, went to Planet Fitness, and ran all 13 miles on the treadmill. So worth it because when I got out of the gym at 6am, it felt like the air weighed 15lb on my shoulders!