Training, Recap

Time has escaped me over the course of the last week or so, leaving me with little opportunity to post on the last few days of marathon training. Rather than go into great detail, which would surely make for a long story, I'll simply recap some of what I have learned to this point in the training.

• During the run on day #3 of the training, which was just a three-mile jaunt, I learned a hard lesson. That is, always go to the bathroom right before leaving for the run. Wow, did I have to pee about halfway through the run that day, and all the movement of running wasn't helping my poor bladder. Not good. I had to go so bad that I felt like I needed to run faster, but the faster I ran, the harder it was to control. I was a raging mess by the time I got home. I'll just leave it at that....

• Day #4 was a five-mile run, which was the longest distance I've ever run in my life. I mapped out a run that took me along what had to be the hilliest in town. Dumb. Real dumb. I ended up walking about six blocks in order to make it past some of those monster hills, but I did learn that it is okay to walk now and again. Walking doesn't equal failure. Not finishing the run because I refuse to walk here and there does equal failure.

• Yesterday was day #6, and I learned that I had been starting out my training runs at a pace that was far too fast for me. This was hindering my ability to finish the runs. Yesterday was a 4-mile run, and I started out a bit slower, kept that same pace all the way, and finished with no problems! Lesson learned - slow down!

• I have learned that training for a marathon is every bit mental as it is physical. Staying positive and learning to shut out potential distractions such as weather, aches, exhaustion, etc., is just as grinding as the actual physical aspect of training.

• And finally, I have learned to leave the headphones at home. The book I am following for this training suggested not listening to music while on training runs for a couple of reasons. I wasn't happy about that, because I used the music as motivation to keep going, or even just to get started. After leaving the headphones at home yesterday, I was surprised how little I missed them. I was also surprised at how well it worked to run without them. So, I shall leave them at home from now on.

All in all, training is going very well to this point. I have run a total of 22 miles now, and by the end of this training week, I'll have put in 31 miles. I am feeling stronger all the time, and I feel like my body is getting used to the grind of the longer distances. So far, I've been lucky to avoid any injuries outside of the usual aches and pains of training my body. My confidence continues to grow the further I push forward in this process, and I'm excited for continued results!