Keep Going

Another solid week. I’m going to skip straight to my training log and let that do the blogging:

Monday: Off.

Tuesday: Classic 9-mile treadmill day. Core at lunch, first time in a while.

Wednesday: 10 miles with 4 at tempo pace. Ran the first 3 miles at the usual 6′ pace and the last mile in 5:55. Noticed the push, but it felt good. Strength at lunch.

Thursday: 12 miles at MLR effort. Great pace starting from about mile 5, but some discomfort in my knee in the later miles. My body has been telling me to keep up my rehab exercises, and I haven’t been listening.

Friday: 4 miles on the treadmill. Nice and easy.

Saturday: Another 9-mile treadmill day. Nice and easy, except I ended up on a wobbly treadmill that really shook up my bladder. Not fun. Rehab before bed.

Sunday: 20 miles. When I woke up, it was 3 degrees outside with a wind chill of -14. This took some finesse.

Drove to the gym, then ran to my usual long run meetup. Thank goodness some of my friends are crazy too; having company got me through some really tough miles. Pace was out the window—I barely even checked my watch.

I got back to the gym after 14 miles and hopped on the treadmill for the last 6 miles of the day. This was tough. My knee started to get tight just before 18, but thankfully never gave out on me. My feet hurt. I was tired and bored. I was glad to get it done.

This Week: 64 miles. Last week I ended up going big because of scheduling weirdness, so this was a regression to the mean, but it was a welcome one. I was very pleased to bounce back and keep putting in the miles. Marathon training is all about finding ways to keep going when you’re tired from last week, or your knee is sore, or it feels like -14 degrees on Sunday morning. I’ve had a lot of setbacks in this build so far, and I’m still fighting some of them. But I’m still fighting them. That’s how we get it done.

Baby: My son is still fighting his new teeth, probably molars, so he has been up and down this week as the pain comes and goes. When he’s feeling good, he is getting even better at walking with support. He is getting smarter and more aware and more curious all the time, too; if he sees food anywhere, be prepared for him to point at it! My wife and I are learning to be sneakier at dinnertime so he pays attention to what’s on his plate—which is usually the same as what’s on our plates, but good luck telling him that.

We just changed out his nine-month clothes and added the rest of his twelve-month hand-me-downs to his dresser. He’s on the small side, but he’s growing!

We are having so much fun. We are so tired. As a runner, I can get used to this. Let’s keep going.