6 til 26 point 2 and a 50

It is exactly 6 weeks until the Charleston Marathon. This means 4 weeks of training and a 2 week taper; the taper will be more rest than usual since I cannot have the more typical 3 week variety. Too much time lost, but I am making the most of the time I have remaining with some good quality work.

Today was probably the hardest day of pure training I will have. The workout was:

• 2 miles on treadmill for warm-up
• Drive to track
• 1 more warm-up lap, light dynamic stretching
• 4 x 0.75 mi at threshold pace w/ 0.25 mi rest interval
• 6 miles at marathon pace
• 4 x 0.75 mi at threshold pace w/ 0.25 mi rest interval

This works out to 16.25 miles total, and since most of this is harder running it felt longer than my last 21 miler. What I like about this workout is it mimics the marathon itself, with those last threshold miles reminiscent of the last 6 miles of the real deal. Not quite the same, as that can only be experienced on race day, but the stress is similar.

I ran the first threshold reps a little fast, but I am not beating myself up because I was able to complete the workout without a crash 'n burn. In fact, even though the last reps were slower, I ran them strongly and finished with the confidence. There were some moment during the 6 mile portion that I had some doubts, but weakness stayed out of town and some light twinges in the left hamstring decided it was against their best interests to complain further.

The weather was not as warm as predicted so I got a little chilly; as the workout wore on I donned gloves and later another shirt. I found myself wishing I had worn some compression shorts (see hamstring comments) but rubbed the legs warm as I could and fortunately did not have to stop short.

I have a little swelling at the distal end of my tibia and also at my fib head. Nothing looks too disturbing at the moment and I will have Larry take a look next Wednesday when I go to Floyd Brace for an appointment. I want to be in a carbon fiber socket for the marathon, as any weight I can save will put less pressure on the one weakness I know I do have: the right hip flexors.

Tibia owie

 Oh, one more thing....

Today I ran 4 miles with Jennifer, and this gave me, for the first time since April 22, 2007, a 50 mile week! Another milestone reached. Yes, better late than never again!

So...one hard workout this week, less miles, and then an honest effort at Kiawah. Jennifer and I will the half marathon, while our friends Kelly and Brian Luckett will run the full. Kelly and I will be running in the Mobility Impaired Divisions for our respective races, a historic day for disabled runners in South Carolina as I believe this is the first marathon and possibly first race ever in the state to have such designations.

Oh yeah, they have a tasty bean soup for finishers. I thought about this soup while we were running today, and can't wait to have some again. It's been a while.

Back in the day