With the first marathon of the season down, its time to focus on the next marathon, the Baltimore Marathon on October 10th. Normally on Columbus Day weekend I would run the Steamtown marathon, but after 3 years of the same thing, I figured it was time to try something new that weekend, change is good I think.
My calves and lower quads are still really sore from the marathon on Sunday, kind of like they were a few weeks back, but I expect the soreness to subside by the weekend. I don’t usually let it get me down because I know its not an injury. I got in 6 miles yesterday, then 8 miles today (note they were about a 9 minute mile pace) and expect maybe 10 tomorrow before taking the day off on Friday. Many people have emailed and commented that i’m a little nuts for doing so much mileage right after a marathon, but since I do multiple marathons, I treat the first marathon as a training run to build for the second one .. it’ll prepare me and get me focused (which it has). I’ve learned what to do, and what not to do after a marathon .. and the number one thing is to NOT PUSH THE SPEED on these runs, I learned that last year when I pulled a hamstring after the first marathon because I wasn’t being smart, now i’ve learned to be smart.
I decided that i’d check out the elevation chart for the Baltimore Marathon to determine how to train, and it will be quite a change from the flat course of the Lehigh Valley Health Network marathon that I just did. I intend to take the actual course map and plot it on gmap pedometer to see where the elevations actually are in relation to the course. Somehow I relate better when I see it right in front of me.
To address this elevation thing, I’ve made some points on how i’ll approach training for the next marathon (which is really only 3 1/2 weeks out):
- Add some hillwork. I have a lot of hills around where I live, so I should take advantage of them since I haven’t really up until now. Route 100 which is a mile down the road from me is a good hill heading east, and all the side roads to and from it are about the same up that way, which gives me uphill and downhill work… PERFECT! This will also help me for the last marathon of the season since from what some folks had said the other day, the Philadelphia marathon is more hilly than it appears .. but we’ll have to see.
- Fine tune my pace/goal time. I know that I had the intention of running an 8:35/mile in the last marathon, but it just wasn’t going to happen. I think shooting for a 9 minute to 9:10/mile is probably the way to go. I kept falling into that pace during the marathon, so it seems to be where my body wants to go (but of course, I pushed it)
- Get back to eating better. I’ve spent a lot of time eating E’ggo waffles, fruity pebbles, fat free fig newtons and other stuff that just isn’t good while training. If I can drop 2-3 pounds before the race, that’s 2-3 less pounds I have to carry with me..
So as we head into the fall, I’m dealing with fact that we’re at the time of year that you can feel the seasons changing right before your eyes. Its getting darker earlier, lighter later and cooler in the mornings.. none of which (in my opinion) are actual bad things because they can help my training. My 20 miler this weekend should fall during a comfortable period where it’ll be low 50’s at the start, maybe upper 60’s by the finish (since the days high on Saturday is only going to be mid 70’s) .. I expect to get a 20 this weekend, a 22 next weekend and then maybe 20 the following weekend before taking a week taper for the marathon, so we’ll see how we feel.
Lastly, some pictures from the marathon .. here are some pics from the starting line (kind of fuzzy) .. for those who haven’t done your first fall marathon, does it get you psyched?
I pulled down only 2 good pictures from the marathon website of myself running in it .. the first was in the first 5 miles (note i still had the shirt on), with the second being probably around mile 11 or 12:
Ok, so i’m not so photogenic while running (lol) .. but what a day .. well thats it for now