August was a productive month for running. I was able to continue training without pain, and keep on schedule. Things are looking good for the OBX marathon this November.
In raw numbers, I was able to get out for 22 runs and a total of 138 miles. Most importantly, I was able to get in long runs of 12, 14, and 16 miles. Not very fast long runs, the 16 mile run took 3 hours, but the time on my feet will be important for getting through the 26.2 come November. The goal of crossing the finish line feeling good is starting to look closer to reality.
I have been running some with Chris Knodle, owner of Irish Goat Multisport. Having him along to keep a watch on my form has been very helpful. It has also been good to bounce scheduling ideas off him, as I finalize my last couple of months of training.
I have been thinking of looking at my long runs more as time targets instead of mile targets. Of course, if I hit my target pace, the time target and my originally planned mile targets will be about the same. Here is how my long runs are shaping up going into the home stretch.
My original schedule for miles has me running 18 this weekend, followed by a cutback weekend. Then 20, cutback, 22, cutback, 24, and then tapper until the race. If I think in terms of time, the 18, 20, 22, and 24 go to 3:20, 3:40, 4:00, then 4:30. That's close to an increase of 10% in time every other weekend. So, this weekend I plan on going out for a 3:20 run, and will just see how far that takes me at a comfortable pace.
I have planned on doing a half marathon for one of my cutback weeks about 5 weeks prior to the marathon. That should give me my target pace to use for OBX.
Till then, see you on the road.
