The anticipation is building for the Marine Corps Marathon in October. I am now in the high intensity months where there are lots of runs and longer distances to cover. This is only the second marathon I have ever done, so I am still not that used to distances 15 miles and over.
This time last year, I was training for the Chicago Marathon, and I was dealing with a relapse in knee pain in one leg and a sore ankle in the other leg. Because of that, I had only run one 20+ mile run in preparing for the marathon. I had stomach issues both on that 20+ miler and the marathon too. This August, which is almost over, has been a great training month considering the amount of running I am doing. August should be the most miles I have ever run in a month if I am able to finish out the month as planned. While I have not had the more devastating injuries of last year, I still have had some things to contend with.
Last Sunday was the beginning of the distances leading up to the 20 milers, with a 16 mile run. Overall, I felt good and felt great when I finished. I did have a couple of ankle issues. My right ankle has been bothering me some for a couple months off and on. It does not get worse, but it is usually there. On the 16 mile run, I had some arch soreness in my left foot on the run, and it lingered the rest of the day into Monday. So I took some iced, heated, and took Advil on Monday, and the pain went away. I have been better since.
Overall, I am happy so far with my training. But the big weeks are coming up. My long runs over the next 5 weeks look like this: 18, 20, 13.1 (BIH Half), 20, 15. Hopefully in the 18-20 mile runs, I will be able to experiment with liquids and energy supplements in practice to see if there is something that doesn’t nauseate my stomach. I will probably provide an update in a week or two.
-JW