No Damage Done
I was dreading what the holidays could do to my weight and eventually to my race weight come Feb. 9 but even though there were quite a few parties and each one had an extended buffet line, the damage was kept to a minimum. Same weight going in as coming out of the holiday season. The bad news was there was no progress to get down to race weight. Given the buffets, I'll take breaking even.
Here's a summary of a few things that have happened since mid-December.
- I've banned margaritas and mexican martinis from the house, the neighborhood, and south of the river until the day after the race.
- It's a good thing that I've entered long runs of 20 miles the past few weeks or the added weight would've been depressing.
- Pretzels and Twizzlers have worked on three, 20-mile runs so I can bank on them working for the marathon.
- While it sounds good to wear light weight Nike Frees for 26.2 miles, they caused four large blisters and caused my calves and quads to cramp by mile 16 of the last 20-mile run.
- When the temperature is above 70 degrees and the mileage to run exceeds 15 miles, electrolyte replacement (more than pretzels) is required.
- Not icing the legs in cold water adds another day to recovery after a 20-mile run.
- Not massaging the legs post race adds another day of recovery after a 20-mile run.
- Cycling the day after a long run is a must.
Besides coordination of some Austin Marathon logistics, this spring I'll be coordinating the 5K training program where I've been a coach for the past two years. Add onto that the coordination of the 10K program as well, which started today with a different location and different employees. Things got so busy this past week I missed three workouts in a row which then got me a little bitchy. Not too bad as last weeks 20-mile run, although not run in the proper shoes, was completed without coughing up a lung or having cramps. It felt the legs were good for Feb. 9.
There might be an additional training program or two. I went to a luncheon today where there was discussion of recruiting some of our employees to run a certain fall marathon and half-marathon. This could turn into a full-time job, just coordinating these things.
This week is a recovery week of sorts with a 15-mile long run this weekend and then next week finishes the last of the long weeks and then a slow taper towards the race. I've decided to bypass the 3M Half Marathon this year. I think it's too close to the marathon on Feb. 9 and I'd want to run it as an A-race and try and PR which could be bad for the marathon. It's better to bypass it and come back to it later next year.
Labels: holiday, marathon, training, weight gain
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