So all my wishy-washiness about whether I'll do a second marathon this season will be resolved in a few days. I am committed to doing a 20 mile (maybe 22 if we feel good) training run on Sunday at the Fort Worth Marathon with Elizabeth.
It's hard to take it seriously this time around. While I didn't have a perfect stretch of training for MTCM, I was pretty good. But it's hard to buckle down right now. I know I'll be running the Rock for fun if I do it, so it's easy to kind of blow off the training.
Even if I really don't care about the 20-22 miler this weekend, if I'm not careful tomorrow especially, it has the potential to be downright miserable! So, in the interests of attempting not to ruin it, I'm making my own list of reminders for what I need to do before anything over 20 miles. Even if it's just a training run and my time doesn't matter.
Water: drink tons today and tomorrow. Less critical since it's only low 70s here today, and is supposed to drop into the 40s for overnight lows on the morning of the run. But still essential for me. I'm not doing well today, and I need to buckle down. I drink tons of water normally, but need to make it more of a priority today.
No Alcohol: I try to stop drinking at least a week before a marathon where I'm running for time (and really, I should do it regardless of whether I'm racing the marathon or not). For a 20+ training run, I usually like to allow 3 days w/o alcohol before the run. That will be a success if I can hold off starting now. I drank on Mon and Wed nights this week, but was running too late last night to make it to happy hour as I'd hoped before we went to our Italian conversation group. Tonight will be tough, I'll likely want a glass of wine but I will try to resist, but I'll definitely have enough willpower to forego on Sat night, since we'll be eating at home.
Diet: Extra carbs the day before, and nothing funky. Dinner the night before for me has to be very limited dairy (like a dusting of cheese over pasta), very limited fruits and veggies (tough for me, maybe a small salad or a side of green beans or something), limited protein, and an overwhelming emphasis on bland carbs. Pasta with red sauce has been my stand-by for the last couple years, though a few years ago I was into a routine of making something that was a mix of sweet potatoes, brown rice, black beans, and mild salsa. Occasionally I've added some asparagus to that, but not much. I should try that again one of these days, had almost forgotten about it.
Planning: Decide what time I have to leave the house, and what time I have to get up. Know the weather forecast and pick out outfit accordingly, and preferably set it out in the closet or on the bathroom counter. And set out all the other stuff I'll need, like fuel for during the run, disposable warm-ups, clothes to wear over my running clothes for the drive home, directions to the start, pins, recovery drink for the drive home, etc.
This is a little different since it's not a marathon. Argh. I typed that sentence and then I reminded myself that I'm making this list b/c all that stuff still matters if I don't want to be miserable on a 20+ training run! I need to lose the "just a training run" attitude, stat! 20 miles is a long time to be miserable if I forget to wear Glide, or if I eat a big yogurt the night before, or if I don't have enough water in my system...
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