After a really hard practice on Thursday, chock full of really fast 1200, 800, and 400 meter runs, I was told to take it easy this weekend and make sure that everything is rested up for the remainder of the season. That night I went out and saw one of my buddies from Arizona and had a few drinks while his company BarTab was debuting at Blue Chalk Café. The event was fun, I met and talked to some fun people and enjoyed the festivities. I have slightly toned down the craziness of my diet routine in favor of having a more intact social life.
Over the past few days I had noticed being fatigued and affected by the cold air that came through after the intensely hot weekend. I took these as a hint that I might be catching a cold, but thankfully that feeling has passed and I feel incredible. I was going to go running on Saturday, but instead worked for about 6 hours and then coached a baseball game until 9PM, and by then just wanted to sleep. It felt great to get to sleep at a reasonable hour and enjoy a good night’s sleep.
I was tempted to run this morning before going to baseball practice but really wanted to finish some stuff in the garden so that we can plant our watermelon, and other plants before the hot climate picks up in a few weeks. So instead of running this morning I did about 2 hours of yard work and then did some running at the baseball practice. Tonight I am keeping up the relaxation and recuperation and just laying low, no running, or exercising.
This week should be awesome, I’m looking forward to the spinning and yoga classes on Monday, Tuesday will be about an hour of running, Wednesday I will do some kind of exercise (not decided yet), and Thursday I will do the track workout in the morning and then get ready for the concert I have been planning for the last month. It should be really fun because I have a great band playing, and a raffle that should entice some people’s interest. In addition to the event, a bunch of Stanford students will be there playing drinking games which may get a little crazy, though I’m not sure how Stanford students get down, we’ll see. Then Friday I will prepare for the 18 mile run on Saturday morning. And Saturday will be a really long run, which is always enjoyable, other than the muscle fatigue and energy drain, and then a baseball party in the afternoon. The weekend will be finished up on Sunday where I try to stretch my legs and hopefully not wake up at 2:30AM with an incredibly tight left leg muscle (happened after the last long run).
As time winds down to the marathon I am mixed between wanting to train hard, and wanting to relax and make sure that my body is fully healed and in the best shape of the training. The coaches have told me to start cutting back on the extra exercise like cross training and turn it into more cardio and less strength training. This makes sense to me because otherwise I might overwork my muscles doing cross training and then on the long runs the extra work would be useless and possibly detrimental.
It is natural to feel that I haven’t trained enough, but I figure as long as the long runs are doable and I keep a solid pace that can be maintained, the marathon should be about the same. I just have to get used to running with 20,000 people and not try to dodge and run around people because that’s what tires you out and adds distance to an already long 26.2 miles.
It is hard to believe that I have already been training for over 4 months. It seems like yesterday that I was in Reno and decided to get myself involved in a long-term goal and came to the conclusion of a marathon, not knowing which one. Thus far it has been an incredible experience and I highly recommend the journey for anybody that has ever wanted to prove to themselves or others that something this grueling can be accomplished. Or if you just want to get in shape, or fund raise for a great cause, or those plus more, there are so many reasons that a half marathon, full marathon, century ride, or even a 10K are excellent events to become involved in.
Right now I am in the best shape of my life and simply living the dream. Living with and seeing people that I care about, being around friends, though I don’t get to see many of them often due to training and a change in lifestyle, working at cool jobs that are flexible, and being involved in a number activities that are beneficial to myself, the community, the environment and a number of others.
I’m really going to try and post journals more regularly, I’ve just been extremely busy with so many different activities. This Thursday I am hosting a fundraising concert at Blue Chalk Café. I will post more information about this in a journal tomorrow or the next day. It looks like it will be an awesome event and I hope a lot of people including you show up.
Take care,
Ryan
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