I am on day 73 of 75 hard (stick to a diet, 2 45 min workouts a day one must be outdoors, read 10 pages of a book, no cheat days, no rest days, drink 1 gal of water a day)

I am running a marathon in May.  My current diet is basically paleo-chicken, venison, fruits and veggies.  No sugar. No pasta. I ran a 1/2 the other day just on the backroads and honestly felt pretty good, without “carb loading” or honestly any preparation. I planned on going for a 8-10 mile run and just felt good , so kept going.

I’m considering sticking to that diet, but I would like to introduce pasta and rice prior to my longer runs. But, don’t want to over do it.

Below is the plan I anticipate on following/referencing.

https://marathonhandbook.com/wp-content/uploads/4-Hour-Marathon-Training-Plan-Miles.pdf

Any and all advice appreciated !

Thanks

In any sport:carbs=better performance. That's just the way it is. It's especially true for distance sports.

There's a huge difference between a 1/2 and full. The body can normally go for about 2-3 hours without carbs because of glycogen stores that you've built up in your liver and muscles depending on your conditioning and how rested you are. But after that 2-3 hour mark performance drops staggeringly compared to if you had carb loaded and/or eaten some gels (or whatever) along the way. If you've ever really "bonked," (like really, not just been lightheaded or something) it is a very unpleasant experience to the point of downright painful.

Personally I train how I compete, so if I was going to carb load before the race, I would have at least wanted to have my stomach prepped for that. That said, take it with a grain of salt because I don't have any science (haven't looked) to back me up.

I don't think you need a dedicated diet...just add some rice or pasta to your lunches. The day before the race, add substantially more at dinner too. Athletes have been doing this for pretty much ever with good results.

Thank you sir !

Another primary source in my diet is NutButter from Costco. I’ve found out the hard way that’s not the best idea for eating that prior to long runs.

The best part of marathon training is eating anything you want, because you burn so many calories running all the time.

Morning run… big breakfast.

Those were beautiful days.

Hydration is more important than anything else.  The only time when you’re not drinking water should be when you’re headed to the bathroom to pee.

In the middle of a long run, “gu” is your friend.

Find out what the top guys in your category (similar muscle structure to what you'd like to keep) are doing and DO THAT ..... if marathon running is your primary focus.

Their almond butter on good toast (no sugars, etc.) with some sliced banana is one of my favorite post-workout meals ever . Anyhow, don't fear the carb if you're working out. Fear it if you're sedentary.

Also I forgot to say, you might want to try and see how eating a gel (or whatever you feel like carrying) feels on a longer run to get accustomed to that. Sometimes the stomach does weird stuff when you eat while exercising...so be prepared.

Do you suggest morning run before or after breakfast?

I have been drinking a gallon of water a day, sometimes more. I plan on continuing that.

The only change I am doing to my 75 hard is switching up the 2 workouts a day as I don’t see that working with my longer run days. And my wife has been killing it in our household, we have 2 little ones and she has been my rock. She needs a little break.

I got up, drank some water, went for my morning run, then ate a big fat breakfast… and loved it.  Regular runs mon, weds, fri, tempo runs on Tuesday and track work on Thursday. Long runs on Saturday morning.

Eating before a run always made me feel like crap.

I just eat regular, mostly healthy food.  I don’t normally ever eat breakfast, and only eat lunch 2 or 3 days per week.  I usually eat big dinners, and I’ll try to make it some sort of pasta the night before any run over 15 miles or so.  

For the 5 days leading up to a marathon, I’ll eat 3 meals per day.  I’ll have a bagel with butter and peanut butter in the morning (after running), and something like cereal for lunch.  High-carb dinner of pasta or whatever.  Race day I’ll do the bagel and then gels every 4 or 5 miles.  I’ll drink a good amount of water the day before, but nothing crazy.  If you already drink a gallon per day, I’m sure you are plenty hydrated for any activity.

Carbs really are key, and any sort of low/no-carb or keto type of plan are not going to be ideal for long distance running.

Thank you!!  My mouth is watering just thinking about pancakes!  I’ve strictly been eating eggs for my “big breakfast”

Thank you!!

I usually skip breakfast as well. I put a scoop of protein powder in my coffee.

The normal eating 5 days prior seems like it is a is a good idea.  

I have no intention of seeking and low carb or keto plan.

Thank you!!

I usually skip breakfast as well. I put a scoop of protein powder in my coffee.

The normal eating 5 days prior seems like it is a is a good idea.  

I have no intention of seeking and low carb or keto plan.

If you run enough, you can eat whatever you want.  That’s the good part.

Thank you!!

I usually skip breakfast as well. I put a scoop of protein powder in my coffee.

The normal eating 5 days prior seems like it is a is a good idea.  

I have no intention of seeking and low carb or keto plan.

My first piece of advice is not to run a marathon. Ask @Commander_Keen

So...I don't really like this plan mostly because your long run is 50% of your weekly mileage. I'd seriously suggest you make one of those rest days a 3-5 mile run.

For your long runs....practice race day. What you eat for dinner the night before, and breakfast will matter come race day. If you carb load one night and feel like shit on your long run you probably won't want to carb load for race day. Practice what you'll wear, eat (gels/GU) and drink (what does the race offer?) and figure out how frequently you'll want to eat those sugary gels. Test out different brands (stroopwaffle, Honey Stinger, Gu, WHAT DOES THE RACE OFFER?) and find out if you can actually tolerate the flavor. It might taste great for one but after 4 you're not really enjoying the flavor of salted watermelon because it doesnt' sit right. Maybe your morning coffee kicks in about 10 miles into a 15 mile run and you're nowhere near a bathroom. Sooooo....now what? You literally have 18 dinners and 18 breakfasts to see if something doesn't sit right with your stomach on a run. Maybe eggs and a bagel work great. Maybe cashew butter is delicious. Whatever you're eating for dinner and breakfast before your weekend long runs make sure it's something you can actually have before your race.
speaking of....if you're traveling for your race make your hotel reservations now or as soon as possible. Make your dinner reservations for the night before the race about 3 months beforehand (February) because if there are 10,000 people coming to this race there are 20-30,000 people going out to dinner that same night and most have probably done this type of thing before so they know to make dinner plans early. Otherwise you're having dinner at 9:15pm and falling asleep around 11 then you have to wake up at 5am to be on a bus heading to the start for a 7am race start.

"what are you going to do on race day" comes into play. If it's windy, cold, hot, too bright, too dark, too early, too late, you're hungover.....Come race day...what are you going to do when it's raining? 20 mph winds? It sucks to run in it unprepared. Get out there and go run. If you'd quit on race day then quit in training. Back to practicing race day....if you want to test out wearing a jacket for a 2 hour run because you feel cold then do it BEFORE race day. Nothing like taking your favorite jacket to the start of your big race just to find out you're going to carry it, or throw it into the street and never see it again. I had a buddy tell me he was thinking of wearing jogging pants for the race. I told him to wear something under them. "what are you going to do when it gets hot? If you have shorts under them you can throw them off to the side, but if you're just in your underwear you might not enjoy the next 18 miles.

Understand a 16 mile long run at a 9:00/mi pace means you're exercising for 145 minutes. 2 hours and 25 minutes of just running. Not getting dressed. Not showering after and definite not eating after. These things take time and if you're saying you wife is a rock start with the 2 kids now imagine what it will be like when you're unavailable for at least 3 hours on a Saturday. When do you have 3 hours to take for yourself? You might be a little tired after exercising for 3 hours so grocery shopping, attending birthday parties, going camping, etc...if you're exhausted she's now taking kids for 4-6 hours on a Saturday. Consider waking up around 6am and jogging when the kids are sleeping so there is less time you're useless to her.

Understand you're going to miss things. Take this training plan and put it into a calendar. Check out when Thanksgiving (thursday), Christmas (monday), New Years Eve (Sunday), Valentines Day (wednesday), Birthdays, School events, work parties, etc. are. You're going to miss social events. If you want to make it to that work party you're going to get less sleep for your run. Push your run later and you get less done in the day. Buddies invite you to go shooting or hang out and you're jogging for 90 minutes that day you might have to adjust the time you hang out with folks just a little unless you're going to get your run in earlier in the day. Your friends will be there after the race. If they aren't then they weren't your friends to begin with. There are 24 hours every day. You miss sleep, parties, television, or running.

do your long runs at an easy pace. For those workouts during the week do a 15-20 minute warm up run before, and a 15-20 minute cool down run after. By warm up and cool down I mean just go jog at a pace you can talk out loud at without struggling. For the workouts themselves, try and get close to the same time for each run. If your doing a 400m/0.25 mile long sprint 10 times and it takes 2 minutes then try and hit 2 minutes on all 10. Don't go out and sprint the first 3 at 2 minutes, then slow down to a 2:15 then 2:30 and end the last 3 running them in 3 minute and 15 seconds because you're so gassed because you went out WAAAAAY too hard. Consistency is more important than running so hard you can't finish the workout without being completely destroyed.

Throwaway clothes are a real thing. Check the weather about a week before the race. If it will be cold an old pair of pajama pants and a sweatshirt you don't wear anymore are good to take. You'll drop them at the starting line about 15 minutes before your race. A bathrobe also works. They're surprisngly warm.

For those long runs, if you figure out what the race offers for gels at aid stations and they don't agree with your stomach then figure out how you're going to carry what you need. Maybe shoving 5 rolls of quarters in your pockets makes running suck unless you practice it.

See if there are any local running groups in your area. Sometimes they have organized runs on weekends where you can meet people. If it's a local race maybe they know the course. IF IT IS A LOCAL COURSE DO SOME LONG RUNS ON THE COURSE ITSELF. This can help on race day mentally. "I've done this in a run before. I know how far this is. Awesome."

There is so much to know and learn it's hard to put it all into one post. I'll never forget my first marathon. Once you're done you'll be able to answer this question.
How do you know if someone has run a marathon?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ItnxJLAOeY
This will be funny in June 2024.

Oh yeah, take Monday after the race off work. Schedule a massage somewhere nice if you want. You'll thank me later.

Also, don't forget to maybe do something nice for the wife during the final week or two of your training plan as a "thanks for tolerating my bullshit for the past 18 weeks." She's doing the training just like you are even if she isn't running. It impacts her life a lot.

Not true at all. Lots of low carb/high fat diets for elite runners. Fats provide more energy and don’t burn up as fast so you won’t need as much additional fuel (gels) to finish.

This is 99% incorrect. Sure, there are always genetic outliers, but all studies show carbs work better. The only people I can think of that do the high fat thing are ultra-distance runners, and they're sick anyhow

Actual studies

Not true at all. Lots of low carb/high fat diets for elite runners. Fats provide more energy and don’t burn up as fast so you won’t need as much additional fuel (gels) to finish.

Also, since you like Nut Butter you’re going to LOVE this stuff.

https://squirrelsnutbutter.com


Edit: I also love the advice of telling the guy who isn’t eating pasta to go eat a bunch of pasta and go high carb. He would be just fine living his ketogenic lifestyle and finishing a marathon.

Any fat ass can finish a marathon if they really want to. It might take them 10 hours, but they can. If he just wants to finish, then sure.

Carbs improve performance. That's it. End of story. It's not even debatable. Get over it.

If you run 35-40+ miles a week, you can eat all the pasta you want, you’ll be fine.

You’ll never get through to them, you just have to let them do their thing.  If there’s one thing I’ve learned in 20 years on Arfcom; it’s that regardless of the topic being discussed, you’re never more than one post away from an Atkins diet acolyte telling you that your ancestors didn’t eat bread, so you shouldn’t either.

Holy smokes lots of good info here!

Thank you.

I do think that plan is a little light.

I’ll be messaging you soon

How important is interval training, tempo training, or other tactics of the like?

Compared to just getting out and getting miles in?  I ran my half at 8:23 pace. Ran 8 miles at 7:30 pace last week. I would say my average pace between my runs the last 2 months is about 8:30.

You want to just teach your body that you can run 26.2 and not die? Just put in the miles.  Want to move from “just finish the distance” to hitting a target time?  Improve your 5K/10K/10mi/half-marathon/20K times? Do tempo runs and track work.

The last 10K of a marathon is harder than the first 20 miles (in my opinion, anyway).

I'd agree with everything the guy above said.  I just ran my 3rd marathon two weeks ago, and this was the first time that I've used a training plan with intervals, tempo, hill repeats, etc, and my speed and endurance improved noticeably in the 4 months since my 2nd marathon.  It also greatly increased the number of miles from the two previous plans, so I guess it's probably a combination of the two.  I will definitely be incorporating all of that stuff into the program for the next one.

We're discussing a first time marathoner, not someone who has been doing this for years and is trying to eke out all the performance gains possible.

Something like this can be done in ketosis if someone wants. Years ago I casually ran a couple marathons with friends (~3:45-3:50) and did them both fasted. Zero calories before or during. Running sub 3 is a different story.

Back on topic:

@Trod7308


For a first marathon just get miles in, as many as you can without injury. A big key to this is running those miles very easily - while running you should be able to say several sentences in a row without needing to take a breath. Yes, that will require you to slow down a good bit.

You've got input in this thread from multiple ~2:56 marathoners who do typical easy runs around 8:30/mi. Based on your half marathon pace, you need to log most of your runs closer to 10 min/mi or slower.

Interval and tempo training will help. Intervals can help you get faster and tempos can help your body learn to clear lactic acid better so you can sustain the pace you’re running longer. It also helps break up training from “go run every mile just to run it” running. When your body learns to clear out lactic acid more efficiently you can carry your 8:23/mi pace for 18 miles or even 24.

How did you feel at the end of your half marathon? Could you have run another 6 miles, or were you dog tired begging for the finish line to be brought to you? How did you feel the next day? I remember my first half it hurt to get into the car when I was finished and I spent the day on the couch. Maybe longer. I finished and swore I’d NEVER run a full. Pretty sure I signed up for my first one 4 months later.

Take your half, double it and add 19 minutes. So you’re in the 4 hour marathon time if you keep up the training. More miles means you learn more, and your body adapts which can help you sustain the faster pace longer.

8:23 is a 1:50 half marathon. Good spot to start.  
I haven’t run 8 miles at a 7:30/mi pace for a while.
A 4 hour marathon is 9:09/mi (probably 9:05/mi if you’re using a GPS watch on race day).

You’re suggesting to slow down by 2:30/mi. ?

I like all the advice so far. I don’t see the point in that. My legs were tired and a little crampy, but my breath and heart rate were good.

Care to elaborate?

Slower running (this is all relative) develops the aerobic system more effectively than does faster running. Part of this development is building more mitochondria (allows for processing fuel to useable energy at a higher rate), some is developing greater capillary density in your legs (allows greater oxygen delivery), some is simply being on your feet running for a longer period of time which elicits adaptations in your bones and connective tissues that help with the repetitive impact of running.

It's not that running faster doesn't develop some of this, but running slower helps with this faster/more efficiently and with lesser chance of injury or burnout.

Out of curiosity, what was your heart rate during these easy runs?

I was in the shape of my life 3 weeks ago when I ran my 100 miler, but if I had run a half marathon that day my pace would have been in the neighborhood of 6:15/mi or faster. My easy runs are a solid 2:15-2:30/mi slower, with recovery runs up to a minute per mile slower than that. During those easy runs my HR is usually around 130-135 (resting HR about 40 and a max HR around 188).

It seems very counterintuitive, but running slow helps a person run fast.

I’m sorry if that came off obnoxious. I am seeking advice and really appreciate that info!

My HR gets up to about 150-155 at 8:30 pace.  

I just ran 9 tonight at 8:23. With an average HR of 162.

I will try slowing down on my long run next Sunday.

Thank you for taking the time to explain all that!  @Commander_Keen

I didn't think you came off as obnoxious at all - "why you run slow" is a recurring topic with runners both new and experienced.

For a bit of comparison, 162bpm is around what my HR would be halfway through a marathon.

What is your HR at 1/4 way through, 3/4 and at the end?

@commander_Keen

Also, could you recommend a good marathon training program for someone of my caliber. Green as hell! Lol

Keep it below 160. If you’re always at that 160 range you’re only benefiting one system.  ‘Time on feet’ matters for reason Keen went into.

I did 13 yesterday. MAX heart rate was 159.  Average was 142. I was just chatting with folks I’d just met and went by feel.  It takes time to get it figured out. 150-170 for me is threshold and it just feels different. Running shouldn’t feel hard.


Remember this…if you slow down 10 seconds per mile on your 9 mile run you’ve added 90 seconds to the whole length of time.  If you’re THAT tight on time run one less mile and save 8 minutes instead of 90 seconds.

Slow down on ALL runs unless they are a specific workout. If you’re doing 4 miles at a hard effort don’t slow down.  If you’re just ‘going out for a run’ just go chill out at 8:45/mi and see how it feels compared to 9:15/mi. Running everything at your half marathon effort/pace (see my post above) would probably suck for 40 miles a week.

@Trod7308

Something from here is a good starter "get me to the finish line" sort of plan. Think of this as the PSA Freedom AR compared to a Geissele (below). It's not fancy, but it gets the job done and lets you get some experience that you can build on when you choose to upgrade down the line.

There's really very little difference between the two marathon plans given there, just a couple extra miles here and there. I'd mostly stick to just running easy, but if you choose to do any faster running I'd recommend sticking to a "fartlek" (Swedish for "speed play") style. Nothing structured about it, just "I'm going to run hard until I go by six mailboxes" or "Fast until I get to that power pole". Shorter fast parts can be done faster than longer ones. Repeat this a few times and make sure you have fully recovered before you start the next fast part.

If you want to keep at it once you get one marathon under your belt I'd recommend a plan from an established training platform such as Jack Daniels (https://vdoto2.com/) or Hanson's (https://hansons-running.com/pages/training-plans). If you really catch the bug and want to pursue things hiring an actual coach to tailor a plan specifically to you and your goals and history i, in my opinion, invaluable.

Now you can see why my first piece of advice was to never run a marathon.

Yeah def a lot to learn.

So a lot of these programs are 18 weeks

I’m about 27 weeks out from my marathon

I’m thinking of the hansons beginner. And possibly just doing week 1-9 twice?

This far out from starting a training plan I’d tel you to just go running. Get consistent running built up. Use the next 2 months to get your schedule down.   Morning run? Lunch run? Evening after the kids go to bed? Weekend runs?

After you get a weekly routine down you can start working on doing Hansons speed/tempo/threshold runs. For me the Tuesday speed workout ends up being 8 miles and takes just about the same amount of time as doing an easy 8 mile jog. I’m a BIG fan of Hansons because the scheduling fits my life, and I also schedule my life around the workouts.  I run on lunch as much as possible.

Consistency in running will be more important and beneficial to your marathon training plan than doing 6x800m or 3x1 mile repeats.

Ok!  Thank you for that!

@commander_Keen

@durtychemist

Tomorrow is my 5th day of all day sits of hunting the rut. So getting my runs in have been tough. Tonight got the kids to bed early to go run.

I bought the hansons book. Lots of good info in there!

The marathon I want to run is giving me technical difficulties. I have tried to sign up 2 times. Talk about a mind f^€k lol

Today I had my first 1/2 slice of pizza in over 3 months. It was good, but so not worth it

Get a good buck? I wouldn't worry about those missed days - you've got plenty of time before the race. Which marathon are you looking to sing up for?

This will be really common if you try out more and more of the "food" you previously cut out. Personally, I just scrape the toppings off a pizza and call it good - in my eyes, the bread was only ever a delivery mechanism to move meat and cheese into my mouth to begin with, rather than anything I really wanted to eat.

I got a doe 15 minutes before sunset. After sitting in tree stand for last 5 days lol. I’ll take it. Drug her out of the creek.

Starved rock is the marathon I am going to run.

I used our pizza slicer to thin out the pieces longitudinally. I had 2 slivers, so half a normal slice.

Today in my all day sit I ate 2 bananas and 25 oz of water. Not well planned. I also planned on a workout after my sit, well that turned into finding and dressing a deer.

Now it’s past all of our bedtimes. No workout today :/

First…their website kinda sucks. I’d had to zoom in to see the course because it doesn’t pop out. Just annoyingly inconsistent/inconvenient.

Saturday marathon. So you’re doing packet pick up on Friday after work (noon to 8pm so inform the wife). It is nice because you have Sunday to be at home and recover for work Monday. This means you can be active when recovering.

The half marathon runs the second half of your out and back course.  Interesting.  Might be cool. You’ll see the fastest half marathon runners, and you’ll weave through the slowest ones.

16 aid stations.  One website says 9. Either way…you could run this without carrying water. They have lemon lime Gatorade so use this in some longer training runs.  You might not like it. You might drink to much of it.  I only drink water for my races.  
The only have two aid stations providing GU. I take 5 in my races, or maybe it is 6, and I plan on dropping one even though I never have.

So yeah…go get some running done. There is a hill in the first two miles and another one at mile 9 for the half marathon. This is the SECND part of your race so at mile 14 you’re going up a hill you just ran down at mile 12, and then you’re running the same downhill/uphill you ran at 4.  It isn’t big. It’s just going to be there waiting for you to come back. It’s also the ‘oh no Mike 20 wall where everyone crashes’ part.  If you’re prepared you’ll be fine.


So yeah…go get runs in. Get those weekly runs consistent. Get some shoes, get some type of a schedule and get after it.

Hey Keen  their FASTEST finisher for 2023 was 3:04. Want to cherry pick an event to win? I think I found an event you can cherry pick to win. 2022 the winner went 2:59 but 2019 ONE runner went 2:30 and Econ’s place went 2:57.

80 bucks for a full marathon?! Why not??

I recently purchased a HPG chest pack./kit bag.  I have been running with that. I put my phone and chapstick in it currently,  I will start to add some weight to simulate gels.

I have a water bottle holder for it but don’t like putting the water bottle in there and running with it, I usually hold my water bottle.

Clothes: I have read to stay away from cotton. But, all my training this far I wear cotton boxers, socks and shirts and haven’t had any issues. I tried some running socks from Dicks, and my feet slid around like crazy.



I am officially registered.  Hotel booked.  Plan to drive up and take a peek at route soon.

Congratulations on signing up! Getting first-hand knowledge of the course can be invaluable.

HPG? I'm not familiar with them. Typically I'd say a vest or similar is fine for training, but a marathon should be able to provide you with most everything you need. Find out what nutrition (drinks and gels, if any) will be on course and test them out. If they work for you, then great! That means you don't have to carry anything with you when you run the race. If they won't work for you, find something that will (a dedicated running shop will work for this, just get a selection from what they have to test) - if you go that route you'll need to carry the gels you decide on. Gear for that can be a later conversation.

Stay away from cotton. Cotton retains water (heavy), dries from the outside-in (can lead to temperature regulation issues, mostly in the winter, though), and is more likely to chafe than a performance fabric.
A local running shop is your friend here, too. You don't need anything super fancy or expensive - just find something that fits well (shirts, shorts, socks) and is comfortable.
I will give a plug for Fitsok. These are my usual go-to, and they're less expensive than most even at full cost - but they always have a 40% off coupon or so on their homepage.

https://hillpeoplegear.com/Products/CategoryID/1/ProductID/5

I bought the runners kit bag. Slightly cooler then a Fanny pack lol

I will check that site out.

Yeah I am a tight ass. I wear janes cotton shirts every single day. Work and exercise

I will say the majority of my training is going to be in the winter months as the race is in may.  I prefer to run outside over the treadmill. Staying in one spot sucks!  Lol. My wife is the opposite prefers treadmill to outside.

Something I am having a hard time with is the program being based off of by marathon pace goal. I was shooting for 3:45.  Which is 8:30.  And I am slowly understanding the physiology aspects of the hansons method and sticking with it, but, I also believe in striving for more and pushing harder when possible.  

The half marathon I ran a few weeks ago was unplanned, just went out for a run and felt good and kept on going. Got to a point where I said, eh might as well make it a half. That was at about 6-7 mi down the road and I knew I had to turn around at some point. 8:23 was my pace then for average heart rate of 162 I believe.

Should I solely stick to the 8:30 MGP and not stray AT all?  

Thoughts?

You’ll find out if your goal pace is too fast throughout training. You can maybe fake it through some of the shorter speed workouts, and the first few Thursday workouts. Since the speed work is a few seconds difference the 200-800m repeats don’t really change a lot with goal marathon pace.

If you can’t run 8 miles at 8:30/mi pace after a 1.5 mile warm up you’ll find out during training. When you can’t do those Thursday’s runs consistently at goal pace you’ll find out.


Edit: if you’re okay with holding a water bottle for runs do it.  Winter training will suck if you’re too cold.  Mittens are warmer than gloves. I have a mountain hardware beanie and a few other nice head wraps to keep my head warm. They’re thin so taking them off and shoving them in a pocket is easy if I’m too hot. Being too cold sucks so don’t ever think you can’t come back home, change clothes and continue a run. Better to be comfortable and get 10 miles in than be uncomfortable and get 11 in because of time.right now don’t worry about the goal pace.  Work on consistency and building up to the 40 mile weeks. Your goal pace can be adjusted after 8 weeks of training. Heck…I did their training place and changed my goal pace somewhere near one of the last workouts and was successful.



Edit 2: I have a fuck ton of running shirts if you want any.  Short sleeves. I’ll mail them to you just to get rid of them. They work great under a hoodie if you don’t want to ruin all your lawn mowing outfits this winter.

We’ll just went up to Ottawa to drive the marathon route. Was a little tough deciphering the shitty map provided on their website.

Holy shit, lots of steep hills though starved rock state park.

I’ve been at 24 miles a week last 2 weeks. Going to try and bump it up a little next week.

Wife bought a pelaton, I wanted an assault bike but, you know how it goes.  Been trying to get some decent rides in on that.

I’m missing my weightlifting a little bit, but want to get these runs and cardio in!