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Saturday, February 02, 2008

The Twenty Miler

In marathon training, our training peaks at a certain mileage. The group that I run with chooses to run twenty-six. However, at the urging of my trainer, and with a little bit of common sense, I ran twenty miles, as those extra six miles run during training can lead to injuries. And, bottom line, if you can run twenty miles, you can definitely run twenty-six on race day.

My run was good, with the exception of this nagging pain in my left foot. It starts at the base of my big toe and runs about halfway down my arch, mostly a dull pain. It was much better with running on dirt as opposed to pavement. And, after running, it doesn't even hurt. I'm not sure what it is.

During the run I felt like I could definitely run faster. And, at the end of the twenty miles, I felt like I could have run another six, were it not for my aching foot.

I think I've conquered my upset stomach issues. Whenever I do a distance event, triathlon, or run longer than ten miles, I'm sick to my stomach toward the end and for the rest of the day. I've found that for me, I need to keep drinking, even if I'm not thirsty, not just water but also an electrolyte fluid. I need solid food for carbs on my run too. Oreo cookies work very well -- it's not like I eat them any other time of the week. And yes, they are vegan.

I think I'm ready for the marathon. From here, I will be tapering my running distances to get ready for marathon day on March 2.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

I didn't know the bit about training on less miles - but it makes sense. Like you said, if you can run twenty you can run twenty-six. I enjoy commuting to work via bike, but I may try doing some running this coming year, too. :-)

Anonymous said...

I am a total believer in the fact that if you can run 20, you can run 6 more on race day. There's so much adrenalin and crowd support to draw on. Best of luck...I hope that foot ache clears us asap.

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

yikes, I do hope that your foot-pain is short-lived - good luck with your training!!

zubeldia said...

Hi there, I've just happened upon your blog. I, too, experience the upset stomach toward the end of an endurance event, and usually a headache to go with it. I keep topped up with plenty of fluids, too, and have never worked out what's going on. It's exacerbated by intensity.

Good luck with the marathon. And, be careful with the foot. I had to give up running following too many chronic injuries.

Zubeldia

zubeldia said...

PS- I'm a vegan rower. I haven't kept up with that blog, but perhaps I should now that I see there's a community of veggie/vegan athletes.
Z

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry to hear about your foot. I hope you can figure out what's happening and get it taken care of. Good luck with the marathon!! :)

JC said...

Way to go with your training. That is a lot of miles. Congrats. You will likely feel better on taper runs. Whatever you do, do not get new shoes at this point, I've heard that is very bad to do right before a marathon. Hopefully you can find a good way to get electrolytes, it can be hard, a lot of the drinks/gels upset my stomach. I am rooting for you!

Unknown said...

Good work with the 20 miler. Sorry to hear about the bum foot. My knees start to act up after around 20 miles or so. I think keeping it to 20 is a smart thing to do. Why increase the chance of injury by pounding out 26 when 20 is plenty?

P.S. I think reading about your marathon training last night before bed put weird marathon thoughts in my head while sleeping. I had the weirdest marathon dream. I was running a marathon with my big winter boots on with other guys from my college fraternity (some of whom I haven't seen in years). The race took place inside a school and church and we kept getting lost not knowing where to go. Weird!

Anonymous said...

Great job. Best of luck on the taper

J said...

The twenty miler is always an accomplishment! Have fun tapering...

urban vegan said...

Good luck and I hope your foot and tum feel better.

I hopr one day to be able to run farther than 10 miles.