Running Week In Review Part 15, 16, 17.1

What a couple of weeks, a whirlwind of emotions and pain associated with my training for the marathon. The last time I checked in with you, I doubted I would even be able to run again and now I am pleased to say that I'm all set to go. Marathon is on!

This isn't me, but I feel like this dude feels. Both he and I are ready to roll and get running on October 14th!

The Week of: September 23 - 29, 2007
Distance: 51 kilometers

The week stated off like week 14 ended, full of doubt and pain. But by the evening of the Sunday September 23, I told my friend Bubba that I was all set to run after 4 days of resting my bad knee. My long consisted of a 25 km marathon paced run. What an awful run! I recall at the end of my run, I literally couldn't take another stride. It was in so much pain.

I also had 3 other runs: Sept 26: 10km, Sept 28: 6km, and Sept 29: 10km. I still wanted to take it easy, but train fairly hard at the same time, so I guess somewhere in between. I’m proud to say that the week ended off with a pain free knee.

The Week of: September 30 - October 6
Distance: 38 kilometers

My long runs have increased by 5 kilometres, since last week was 25 kms; this week’s run was 30 kms. I have never run this much in my life, my previously longest run that I have recorded was back in '99. It was a 22 km run in the blistering cold - 30 January weather.

The 30km was again, horribly difficult. I was hoping to run the entire route, but I walked for about 15 minutes which slowed down my pace to a sluggish 6:09 per km. I was planning on a 5:41 per km pace, but really last steam in the last 10 kms, that's where I did most of my walking.

Now What?

When I finished my 30km run, the next day I felt awful. I really felt sore and I felt so tired all day. I was so tired; I was falling asleep during my meetings all day. Turns out a got the flu. What now, I thought to myself. Bad knee two weeks ago, and the flu this week. My entire body ached the whole week, I felt fatigued, I felt really congested, and I coughed up a mouse I coughed so much. Once again, I was a little discouraged.

I did managed to get in a 8km run on October 4th. It was a short run, and it was still hard because of my flu. I must admit, by the end of this week, I was full of doubt once again.

Week 17.1

What is week 17.1 you ask? It's the first day of my last week of preparation before the marathon. I am proud to say that I'm all set for my marathon. I went out for a 35 km run at marathon pace and I completely aced it. I improved my pace by 19 seconds from 6:09 per km to 5:50 per km. I'm still a little off from my 5:41 per km pace, but at this point I don't care. After all the setbacks during my training, I just want to finish.

The week isn't over yet and I will do some light running during my trip to Victoria BC tomorrow. This week is considered a taper week, which means to slow down and rest your body for the big show. What you want to do is make sure your body is rested and healthy for the marathon. So I will run a bit, some light 5 km runs, nothing major.

What an incredible last few weeks. This is going to make finishing the marathon that much more sweet.

October 14 in Toronto, are you coming?