5 Weeks Until Columbus

      The nights are getting darker earlier. The leaves have begun falling from trees. The weather is starting to change.  Fall looks like it wanted to show up a bit earlier than it should, but with all that also comes the Columbus Marathon.  We are now 5 weeks out and this week was going to be a great gauge of where I was at in my training.

MONDAY: I ran 7 miles at a 9 minute pace.  Followed by doing some pull ups at the park.  This Saturday is the Gladiator Rock n' Run and I still want to make sure that I am ready for the obstacles that will take strength.  Overall I felt pretty good, but I kept asking myself how will I be able to run 9 miles and do obstacles in 2 weeks when I tackle the Battle Frog Race.  I would be lying to you if I told you I wasn't nervous.

TUESDAY: I went to the gym and did a complete body workout. Normally I would focus on one body part a day, but I need to put my body through some torture so I am ready for the obstacle courses. I came home and felt like I was the piece of meat Rocky Balboa beat up on.

WEDNESDAY: I got out of work a bit early so I decided this would be a good day to do a little longer run than normal.  I did a nice 10 miler at 8:40 pace.  I felt good for most of the run except my shins were a bit sore early in the run.  Luckily the pain dissipated and it didn't have any lasting effect on my run.  When I got home I did some push ups and crunches.

THURSDAY:  I decided to use this day as a gym day again. Normally I would run Thursday and Friday, but I figured with a half marathon on Sunday I would only run one of them.  Once again I did a full body workout.  I felt better than I did on Tuesday, but I was still beat.  The one good thing though is strength with help with my running.

FRIDAY:  I wanted to make sure I was on point with keeping my pace, so I just did 4 miles, but the point was to hit exactly 8 minute miles.  I did really well and was only off by a second or 2 for most miles. One thing I noticed was my hips were sore when I was running.

SATURDAY:  Since we weren't heading to Erie until around 3 I decided to wake up and head to the gym.  I did a very light workout mainly focusing on my hips with some core workouts thrown in.

SUNDAY:  I ran the Erie Half Marathon in the time of 1:46:34.  I will write a full recap of the race later this week.  I felt really good most of the race and only had some shin pains early in the race.  I did not set out with a time to finish this in.  I figured with Columbus being in 5 weeks my goal was to just run a smart race. I basically did everything I set out to do, and I am confident in what I can do for Columbus.

This week I am going to work on getting more long runs in and worry less about the gym.  I will still do some lifting and things, but it will be done mostly at home after my runs.  Like I said before these obstacle races are a different thing to do and I am excited to try them, but Columbus is the main goal.

When and how far is your next race?