Marine Corps Marathon Training – Week 15 (Thoughts on training)

I’m at that point in training where I’m just ready for it to be over. My legs are tired. My body is tired. I’m tired of feeling like I have to run.

I mean, I do enjoy running. Really, I do. But the pressure to complete a (super long) long run and a certain number of miles each week has been draining.

Yes, I know. I signed up for this. I wanted this. I chose my training schedule. I could have chosen an easier one, but wanted the challenge.

And a challenge, I got.

Week 15 of training wasn’t as strong as I was hoping for.

I didn’t do my third and final 20-miler on Saturday. The weather wasn’t that great, and instead I logged 16 miles on the treadmill for my long run. I didn’t do any cross-training (the yoga I was planning on never happened), and I’ve been slacking on the foam rolling.

MCM Training – Week 15

Monday, Sept. 28 – off

Tuesday, Sept. 29 – 4 miles – treadmill

Wednesday, Sept. 30 – 6 miles – treadmill

Thursday, Oct. 1 – off

Friday, Oct. 2 – 4 miles – treadmill

Saturday, Oct. 3 – 16 miles – treadmill

Sunday, Oct. 4 – 7 miles – outside in the neighborhood

Total – 37 miles
Cross-training – none

I celebrated my cousin’s birthday with dinner and a night out at the Russia House in Dupont Circle Saturday night. We had vodka flights (reliving my 20s), so the morning after was rough. BUT I still managed to meet my friend, Rohelia, for an awesome 7-mile run near our neighborhood.

It was an evening run (so I had time to sleep off the hangover), and the temperature that evening was perfect. The scenery on the path we took was gorgeous (lots of trees and leaves starting to turn). I thought it was going to be painful, given the state I was in the night before, but it was actually a lot of fun, and I felt great afterward.

Goals for this week: Tapering begins, so my weekly mileage will go down. I want to do a little speed work this week, and if I can manage it, some yoga and jump romping.

Less than a few weeks until MCM. Crazy.

I complain about how tired I am from the training, and how I’m ready for it all to be over. But I know once the race is done, it won’t be long before I’ll be itching to put myself through this misery again.

It’s kind of like drinking. There are weekends where you imbibe too much, and the next day you think you never want to have a drink again. But then a week (or even just a few days) later, you’re back in the game and ready to go.

Yeah, perhaps not the best analogy. But you get the idea.