It's been a day or two since my last post. Okay, okay, more like a month and a half. I left off my last post with a recap of our Grandma's marathon in June. Following that, we took about a week off of absolutely no running. Then we started slowly getting back into mileage. Recovering from a marathon effort like the one we had in June is no small task. I think I finally got to the cause of my side stitch problem. Turns out I was in the process of developing 'Shingles' and the inability to fully expand my rib cage must have been triggering the entire thing. I have since been able to return to a full running load. I'm finally hitting upper 50's for weekly mileage again and am on pace for the mid-60's this week.
Following the Grandma's marathon disappointment, I decided to sign up for the Twin Cities Marathon coming up on October 4. I hope I'll be ready for it. It is only 7 weeks away now and I've got a lot of fitness to gain between now and then.
We have yet to have any really good workouts. I personally blame the heat and humidity and our inability to be consistent with morning runs. That has all changed this week. We're back on our routine of running in the mornings to take advantage of being fully rested and having the cooler temperatures. Unfortunately, it takes time for the body to fully get rhythmic with performance. I suspect that by this time next week, I will have rolled a successful 10k effort on Saturday, and then a successful 20 mile long run on Sunday.
I'm also going to start picking up some strength training next week. I've put it off for way too long and need to start that back up in order to gain my power back so I can be an explosive running athlete again.
Over the next 7 weeks, I'm going to be sure to keep all of you updated on my progress as I prepare for my 6th marathon.
