Marathon Training Plans…NOT for me

I was busy this morning and busy this evening, and the only time available for a run was at lunch time. So on a nice morning for a run I ended up running during the hottest part of the day, which was high 70s and sunny. At least there was a breeze at times and the humidity was not too bad. I did not know how long I was going to run or in which direction. I have no marathon training plan and I do not follow any schedule and that is the way I like it. Schedules makes running feel like something you have to do and I want the freedom of flexibility. If you do not have to run a certain a distance on a particular day, then any distance is good. So today my goal was to run anything from 10 miles to a maximum of 22. I wanted it to be closer to 22 though because today was my only opportunity for a long run before the Medoc Mountain Trail marathon next month. Besides not having any distance schedule, I have no time goals either.

So I started at 12:45PM and headed to Providence Park. I like that little park near my house because it has a 1 KM asphalt trail loop which provides a good training ground for road racing. The trail goes around the park and in the middle are little league baseball fields, soccer greens, playground and other park stuff. I usually do a few loops in there and I get bored and head off to other neighborhoods. Today I got lost in listening to trail slammer’s podcasts and did not realize that the time had passed. I had a couple of gels and a hydration belt but I eventually ran out of fuel and when I looked at my Garmin I had already ran 10 miles in the park. I did not count laps, but when I checked the Garmin data tonight it was indeed 16 laps (16K= 10 miles). Thankfully there is a 7-11 across from the park and I went there for Gatorade, water and some salty snacks. My wife called at that time and asked me when I was getting back because my lunch was sitting on the table for a long time. I told her that I was at 7-11 eating junk food and wanted to run some more. We agreed that I would run for another 90 minutes. So I left the park and headed towards North Kempsville and the Rec Center eventually coming back around and I finished in exactly 90 minutes with 18 miles on the dial. This was really an easy comfortable run and I could have gone up to 22 miles. I used the Galloway 30-30 method and really didn’t feel any stress which is a bonus considering I already had ran 30 miles this week with 3 doubles in 5 days. I know my training pace is much slower than my races but I am good with that. I never stop my watch so my actual running pace is usually better than what I post but who cares? I know I can run faster and that would have been the case today if I had time in the morning and gone to run with my friend Andrew for his 40th birthday. Did I say that he is a real slacker as he only ran 40K today, instead of 40 miles? Maybe he will run 50 miles for his 50^th like I did. ha!ha!

This evening my wife suggested that I post a calendar of my long runs so she knows when I will be gone for hours. I explained to her that I do not even know when I go out the door how long I will run for. Hence, the title of this blog... So as a compromise I posted my races on the calendar.

Stat of the day: I just saw that I ran 102 miles in September. Reaching 100miles by the 14th of a month is my fastest 100 yet.