Marathon or Not This Year – Time to Find Out

Today was supposed to be only an 8.0 miler according to my original ideas for this week.

Instead I decided to challenge myself this week to see if my body will hold up for the marathon distance training.

To be honest this is something that I am very concerned about, since my left knee has been barking a bit lately, with the higher mileage weeks and I have a history of getting injured during marathon training, in that knee.

My knee is only bothering at around miles 10-13 then the discomfort seems to go away. Then I just have normal long-distance soreness afterward and can run pain-free the next next day. Yeah I am a little stiff to start, but it works out after 2-3 miles and I run pretty normally then.

So what does this challenging myself look like?

• 16.0 – Monday
• 5.0 – Tuesday
• 10.0 – Wednesday
• 5.0 – Thursday 5k Trail race plus warm-up and cool-down
• 7+ – Friday
• 15-20 – Saturday – If no pain – planning on the 20
• Whatever I feel like but at least 3.0

Which would put me around 60 miles for the week, which is only a small increase in my weekly mileage. I want and will have some very tired legs for next Monday’s long run – that run will tell me a lot about my readiness for a marathon.

16.0 + – Monday

No I don’t plan to run very fast, since most of the longer runs will be somewhere between 9:00 and 10:00 minute pace, except the trail race, but even that will probably only be around 8:30 to 9:00 minute pace.

I know that this is a pretty damn aggressive training week (for me), but I have to know if my body can hold up to the training that I want to do, if I decide to run a marathon this year, with the base that I have so far.

If I am able to complete this training cycle, without my knees giving out or becoming too painful, it means I am ready to train for the marathon this year.

Of course if at any time, my body tells me without at doubt, that this is stupid! I will shut it down and go back to a less aggressive training schedule. It also means that I will stick with a 1/2 Marathon or less this year and wait until next year, when I will have a better base under my belt, to go for the Marine Corps Marathon next year.

My personal decision day is Monday around 6:00 P.M. on whether run a marathon or not this year.

After I make the decision, I will cut back my mileage next week to rest up for what I really need to do over the next couple of months, whether it is to prepare for a marathon or to try for a couple of 1/2’s, a faster 5K and possibly a 10K, if I can find one close by.

Wish me luck