Progress Report- Marathon Training is Exhausting

Clearly it’s been a while since I posted in my Journal here, and that is because training is fucking exhausting.

Toward the end of July, I found myself with pain in my shins aka shin splints, aka lower leg hurty. That meant I needed to rethink my training plan. I’ve been focusing on spin, because it’s low impact, great cardio, leg strengthening, and that’s what’s worked for me in the past.

As of this writing, I have not drunk any alcohol since September 1st (35 days!). Given my focus on a non-running training routine, I feel like I really can’t claim to be doing my best if I’m still drinking at all, so I’ve totally given it up.

I’ve lost about 15 lbs and I feel pretty good overall but I think it’s becoming clearer by the day that I did not give myself enough time for training. I’m going to keep it up and do as best I can without getting injured, but realistically there is a chance I might not be able to finish this thing in the time limit… I’m working on getting okay with that idea— just in case. If I find myself out there in November being collected by the DNF bus I’ll be pretty sad… but I won’t give up. That will only mean I’ll need to make another attempt.

Maybe it’s too soon to be thinking like this… I really can’t tell because I’ve never done this before. Either way, I’m worried but I’m not giving up. I’m just gonna keep on doing what I can to get ready and take care of myself along the way.

In the meantime, I’ve done some fun races along the way that I’ll be reviewing in the review section including the Tunnel To Towers 5k! Just because I may not be marathon ready in time doesn’t mean I’m not still having plenty of running fun.