8 days to the marathon!
I lowered my training mileage significantly 2 weeks ago after my knee started having a new and consistent pain when hitting higher mileage.
2 weeks ago I was certain my goal of a 4 hour marathon was going to be achievable. I’m not so sure about this now. Achieving this goal will be hard. I’m already preparing myself for the the worst but at the same time trying to stay positive and think that maybe there will be no pain at all and the marathon will be a piece of cake… that I’ll be able to go through al 26.2 miles feeling happy, being patient, and above all, under a 9 minute mile pace at all times (not counting steep hills).
On saturday I ran 13 miles, I took 400mg of Ibuprofen 1 hour before the run and my knee did not bother me at all when running. But the next day my knee was in pain and I felt like my healing process was hindered when I went up and down stairs; it would hurt.
I ran 8 miles yesterday (wednesday) with no Ibuprofen and my knee did not bother much when running. It’s feeling a bit sore today but I can climb stairs without feeling I’m injuring the healing process; pretty much no pain.
So on marathon day I will take again 400mg of Ibuprofen and I will make sure my knee is healed up before the race. This means this coming week I won’t train much. I might run 6 miles total. With 4 being monday or tuesday.
I look at my heart rate a lot when I run and use these 3 levels as guides assuming I’m running about 10 miles.
150-155 beats per minute: I feel like the run is a walk in the park. I don’t even pay attention to my breathing. Pace is around 9 minutes per mile.
155-160: I’m getting a good workout. My breathing is fast but I could still miss a couple of breaths and would be fine. I usually fall into an in in oooout, in in ooout breathing mode. Pace is around 8:30 minute miles.
160-165: I’m going hard. Every breath counts. I’m in iiin ooout, iiiin ooout mode. But I can still finish my workout ok (assuming it is about 10 miles). Pace is around 8 minute miles.
So this is my marathon plan: The race starts at 7am. So I’ll take 400mg of ibuprofen at 6am with a 350 calorie ensure. I’ll have another 350 calorie ensure when I wake up. Running a marathon takes like 2600 calories from you. There is no way in hell I can carry or eat enough when running to make up for that but I’ll carry some Gu’s (I’m thinking 4 or 5; 100 calories each) with me and make sure I eat bananas at the aid stations.
For hydration, I typically do one cup of gatorade and one cup of water. There are 16 aid stations on this marathon so I might not do this on all of them; but I will on most.
Heart rate wise I’ll keep it in the 153-158 range for the first 18 miles. Depending on how I feel I might adjust there.
I’ll carry another 400mg of Ibuprofen with me just in case. But if I need these it means I’m seriously hurting my knee so I might decide to give up on my goal of a 4 hour marathon.
So those are only a few things we marathoners worry about (and plan for) but I don’t want to bore you with all of them. Figuring out when to poop is critical and you can’t fully control it, what to eat the days before, which of your shoes to wear, how will you be carrying your stuff during the run, etc….
Wish me luck!
