Weeks 15 & 16: A New Goal

I’ve decided not to use the Louisiana Marathon (January 17^th) as my qualifying race for Boston.  Unfortunately, I’ve had enough issues with staying healthy and with hitting all my long runs that I don’t think it’s the race for me.  To clarify, I feel like I could qualify at the Louisiana Marathon, I just don’t think I could do it at the pace I’d like.

My new goal is to qualify at the New Orleans Rock N’ Roll Marathon (February 28^th).  My backup to this race will be the Zydeco Marathon in Lafayette a few weeks later.  Honestly, I’m ready to be finished with marathon training.  The marathon is just an odd distance/speed for me.  I’m really comfortable with anything at or below 13.1 miles, or anything longer than a marathon (although, I haven’t done any ultras in quite a while).

Week XV:

Training Pace: 6:10 (have been hitting it pretty consistently)

Long Run: doesn’t matter…haven’t been hitting it.

Music:  Started the book Leadership and Training for the Fight by Paul Howe.  It’s not great, but it passes the time.

Weeks 13 & 14: Weight Management

Over the past few weeks I’ve had some legitimate issues getting in my long runs and this is beginning to weigh heavily on me.  Although I’ve not had any real issues hitting my paces throughout the week, I worry that my lack of long distance mileage will come back to bite me in the ass.  Although I’m uncertain now, I’m contemplating just doing the half-marathon at the Louisiana Marathon.  I would then attempt to qualify at the Rock N’Roll New Orleans Marathon in February, or the Zydeco Marathon in Lafayette in the middle of March.

We had an all-hands, medical stand down this weekend in New Orleans for the Marine Corps.  I was pleasantly surprised to see that I weighed in at 161 lbs, my ideal race weight.  I need to be careful not to drop too much weight, but this is great to have hit this milestone.  I much prefer how I look when I’m about 20lbs heavier, but I love how I feel when I’m cruising at this weight.  I’m trying to eat only fruit and water before noon each day.  I’ll eat pretty much whatever for lunch, but in moderation.  Dinner, I’m trying to eat just a small enough portion of whatever we’re having so that I’m not quite full.

Week XIII:

Training Pace: 6:20

Long Run: 14 miles

Music: Finished the book Living with a Seal by Jesse Itzler.  Itzler is the husband of the woman that’s the CEO of Spanx.  He met Navy Seal David Groggins during an ultra-marathon event and ultimately asked him to move in with his family and train him.  Although the workouts Groggins puts him through are of questionable training value (Itzler’s going to end up getting hurt if he sticks with that training regimen), the intensity with which they workout is admirable.  It’s a good, easy read.