Like many, today was my last long run with the mileage starting with a two leading up to the Marine Corps Marathon in three weeks,
My cardiologist wants me to cap my race participation at half-marathons. I couldn’t pass up attempting the 50th Marine Corps Marathon. It’s not the distance of the race as much as the training runs required leading up to the race. Over the past 10 weeks, I have averaged 33.3 miles per week. For 2024, my average weekly miles were 24.2. I peaked this week with 42 miles. This marathon will be my first since October 2023.
I got out at 6:45. It was still dark. However, civil daylight arrived within twelve minutes, allowing me to see the numbers on my watch.
Overnight, the temperature dropped to 48 degrees. However, I expected to run until 11 am when the temperature would be in the low 70s with sunny skies. Those conditions resemble the typical Marine Corps Marathon day.
Leaving my house, running through Chatham to the Belmont Ferry Farm trail, across the Falmouth Bridge, one loop of the Heritage Trail, and back home is within 50 feet of ten miles. I planned to run this route twice.
On the first loop, I was a wimp and wore a singlet over a long-sleeved shirt and a neck gaiter over my ears. Finishing my first loop, I changed into a short-sleeved shirt. Keeping my hands warm, I wore gloves on both loops.
I wore my double bottle belt with UCAN Energy in both bottles. I drank about 3 ounces at the end of each mile, every 13 minutes. When I got back to my house, I exchanged my empties for two new ones.
I’m still breaking in my Saucony Triumph 23 shoes. I did experience foot pain in those shoes during my 18-mile run two weeks ago.
Besides conditioning, long runs let you try new things or simulate your race logistical plan. At the Devil’s Den 10-mile, I walked for 2 minutes every 6 minutes. Since then, I have been walking every 7 minutes for 2 minutes. Using that routine has not been successful, with slower times and higher heart rates.
Today, I reverted to 2-minute walks every 6 minutes.
I completed the run with good results. The first lap was 2:10:54, and the second lap was 2:10:59. My feet did not hurt, my heart rate stayed below 150 until well into the second lap, and I completed 18 miles 2 minutes faster than my training run of that distance two weeks ago.
Post-run, I experienced major digestive issues. I might change my marathon fluid plan to use only two bottles of UCAN Energy and then use UCAN Hydrate (no calories) for refills. Starting at mile 17, I was feeling digestive discomfort,
Additionally, I received a nice email from the Marine Corps Marathon Organization with the race details. It gave me some ideas to help avoid crowds and reduce my walking distance to the start line on race morning, thereby reducing my stress.
It looks like I’ll need to be up by 2:45 am. So, I’ll need to start changing my sleep pattern to get to bed early and wake up early over the next three weeks,
The marathon starts at 7:20 am. I assume I’ll cross the start line by 8 am. That will give me 4.55 hours to reach the 17-mile cutoff and 5.25 hours to reach the 20-mile cutoff. Today’s run gave me confidence in staying within the time limits,
As I wrote in my book Go for 25, available on Amazon, to complete a long race, you need to do two of three things well: physical fitness, mental tenacity, or logistics. I’m good with the latter two. Thirty-three miles per week may be light on physical fitness training.
I have a plan. I’ll work the plan to success.