Balancing Life and Miles (3 weeks until Marathon, 29 weeks until the hundo)
It’s less three weeks until the Asheville Marathon. *Excited runner noises* Preparation wise, compared to my previous two marathons in 2013 and 2017, I’m feeling pretty damn good. I’ve put more weekly miles into this go ‘round than the other two attempts and I also have the mental benefit that I’ve run numerous trail races over the past few years that have surpassed this distance.
I have two goals going into this race. Well, three if you include my ever present race goal of just having a great time and enjoying the moment. So:
1. Most fun wins!
2. Run a better time than the 2013/2017 races (5:18)
3. Finish under 4 hours and 20 minutes.
Quite a jump from goal #2 and #3 eh? Yeah, almost a whole hour faster! When I first starting the formal training for this race, I didn’t know what finish time I wanted to shoot for. The year prior, I had completed the Asheville Half Marathon under two hours so I knew I could hustle a 9:02 mile/minute pace for at least that distance (13.1 miles). However, it had been many years since I had put substantial miles on road and this years’ race has 900 feet of gain compared to the previous downhill route, so I wasn’t sure if I would be able to replicate the same effort.
After a few successful 10+ mile training jogs, I was hovering between a 9:30 and 10:30 pace. So I decided to believe in myself and shoot for a goal of a 10:00 mile/min, which would put me at a finish of 4 hours and 20 minutes. I think it’s a great goal, something that is achievable but only if you put in the work.
I’ve been relatively on track with keeping up with the marathon training guide over the past 15 weeks, slowly increasing my weekly mileage and pushing the speed. However, I just returned from a week long vacation to go on a snowboard trip and this was the first time since October that I didn’t log a single mile for the week.
I thought about bringing my shoes on the trip. They almost made the cut. I’ve usually managed to squeeze in a treadmill run or a city run on most of my trips in the past, it’s a great way to get a quick site seeing in! But this trip was different as we planned on tackling four days of snowboarding and I knew that would be a lot of stress on my legs and knees in a completely different way than running stress. I just didn’t want to over do it and I knew time was going to be tight as well since we had a lot of other activities planned.
Next thing you know, after factoring in travel slog, I found myself without a jog in over 9 days! I was getting a little antsy and a tad worried that I was backsliding a bit too much and would ruin the great progress I’ve been making.
However, there have been numerous studies that have shown that if you consistently are training, taking a week off results in minimal fitness loss and can actually be beneficial in some cases, especially if you’ve been overdoing it. I’ve done this before due to injury, sickness, or just plain ole’ burn out and the I’ve never found it to be detrimental. I just had to remind myself of this and also get myself back out there ASAP.
I rearranged the plan to work for me, moving the harder week to the week I returned from the trip. As long as I stay consistent with the next three weeks, I should still be sitting pretty to hit the 4:20 goal. So I knocked out my first run since the trip just this evening. Just did a great 5 mile jog around North Asheville with beautiful weather and a great sunset kissed mountain view. I felt really good, probably that nice mental break from doing this consistently for months. My knees and legs felt a bit sore but I could tell they were so stoked to not be toesiding and heelsiding anymore.
Resting and rearranging training plans to fit your life is totally acceptable! As long as you try to get as close as you can to the total weekly mileage and don’t skip the long runs for the majority of your plan, you’ll get over the disruptions.
Just got to keep the momentum going. I’m honestly very eager to hit up a trail run again soon, it’s been far too long. Also, FYI, my cross training days have mostly consisted of just walking the dog…