Monday, August 18, 2008

August 17, 2008 - Marathon 10 of 31

today marked a special achievment for me, not only did i run my 10th marathon in 17 days, i also completed my full 2 hour swim. It's amazing how this intense training has improved my endurance, even in such a short amount of time. Two months ago, a 6k swim over 116 minutes would have knocked me out for the rest of the day, but there i was 4 hours later running the remaining 29.9k of the 42.2k i ran in total yesterday.

the run went very well. the knees are at the point where they do not hurt. i seem to have found the balance of going just slow enough to not cause excess stress and pain. the major issue tonight though was hitting the wall. by 35k, i was exhausted and really had to struggle to get thru the last 7.2k. but i finished at 4.14.15 (over a span of 12.23.00). i was actually on pace for a sub 4 hour run but slowed down at the end.

it is now Monday afternoon the 18th and i feel quite capable of another run. not sure if i will actually get one in today though, as being stuck in the office for 10 hours will really cut into my time management. i also have some chores to take care of this evening, so there's just not going to be the time to run. but Tuesday will definitely be a marathon day.

Jennifer

2 comments:

cs said...

Well done, Jennifer! It's really amazing how a lot of running can improve endurance, and how taking it easy really helps turn a 4+ hr run into something that won't kill you the next day. LOL. Seriously, though, I did a bunch of slow long runs in the 3-3.5 hr range earlier this summer and they've paid off. You'll have that much better a base when you go for another marathon PB.

Best wishes!
schwingsie

Jennifer McCreath said...

Hi schwingsie,

endurance is definitely an important component to marathon training. i hope these slow but frequent long runs will prove to strengthen the muscles, tendons, knees, and whatever else is down there. the knees always become a problem deep into races when i am running fast, so i can only hope that this training will lead to a less painful finish on my next serious race.. good for you to log lots of long runs this summer..