16 Weeks to the Shamrock Marathon....

Yesterday marked 16 weeks to go until the Shamrock Marathon in Virginia Beach. I bumped my long run up to 12 miles as planned and completed the run. My legs got a little tired the last couple of miles, proper fueling prior to my long run is starting to come into play. I neglected to carbo load prior to this run, and while I did okay, it served as a reminder that from this point forward, proper fueling is definitely a consideration not to be overlooked. We'll talk more about proper fueling next time, today's lesson deals with proper pacing.

Lesson #12: If you want to finish the race, run your own pace! I learned this lesson the hard way while running the New Orleans Marathon this past February. I felt very confident going into the race based on an increased training regime from previous years, a nice flat course (instead of a hilly marathon course I was accustomed to) and the fact that my last long (20 miles) training run went very well. So...being confident (or over confident as it turned out!) I joined a "pace group" that turned out to be a little faster than I could handle. Unfortunately, I didn't realize this until mile #11 when my legs started hurting way too early. By then, it was too late, I had burned up a lot of my reserve fuel and energy. I dropped back from the pace group at mile 11 and slowed a bit. By the time I got to the 13.1 mile mark, I knew the second half of the course was going to be tough. It was more than tough, it was downright ugly and painful. I did finish the race, but my hopes of a PR went down the drain. I was very disappointed in my bad judgement, but took away a valuable lesson. From now on, I run my pace!

Tomorrow I get back on the scale - could be bad news after Thanksgiving weekend! I've been at 200 or 200.5 for the last three weeks, but have a feeling that I've gained a pound or two this week.

Today's Song of the Blog is Hippy Hippy Shake by The Swinging Blue Jeans.

Enjoy the great running weather, I know I am!

Ciao for now....