She Runs by the Seashore

With the one-month mark till the Baltimore Marathon having just passed Thursday, Sept. 17, it seems like a perfect time to do a check-in with training.

I’m not following a super-specific plan, but I am following a long run plan, and I’m making an effort to run a good amount otherwise and do hill work. I started training July 5, and the marathon at the Baltimore Running Festival on Oct. 17 will be my fourth.

I just determined using my Excel sheet that I’ve run 284.67 miles from July 5 to now, which is 76 days — just about two-and-a-half months.

I just bought new running shoes on Sunday, the newest version of the Brooks Adrenaline. I’ve only run in them twice so far, and I got the next size up (I tried on both my normal running shoe size, 7.5, and 8 after seeing something online about needing the next size), but I think I like them.

I was feeling like my current shoes were wearing down, and today, I just checked the mileage on them. I actually started wearing my current shoes in March, and I’ve run 621.83 miles from the first day I logged using the new shoes. That includes the two runs with my new shoes and a handful of runs in a pair of shoes that I won, but the vast majority of the runs were completed in my go-to pair of shoes. So, it was good timing. I want to get used to the new shoes before the marathon.

My marathon training started out well. I did four 10-milers on weekends, then did a hilly 8.5-miler in place of a 10-miler, and the following weekend, I did a 12-miler.

But then I had a couple weeks where I didn’t quite hit the mileage I’d planned. I did a 14-miler instead of a 15-miler before a shorter long-run week, and after that, I did a 14.5-miler instead of a 17-miler.

But I’m back on track now. My past two long runs have been a 19-miler and a 22-miler, as planned. Twenty-two miles is the longest I’ll run in one day before the marathon. (And I do take walk breaks during training, which I count — I’m getting the mileage in.)

I did a hill workout earlier this week with my friend Taylor, and during the past two weeks, I also made time for a hill workout. There have also been four other weeks I’ve been able to get hills in, while there have been four weeks I haven’t.

I also made myself a column for cross-training, which has been a line of mostly “No”s. Maybe I can change that by the next time I do marathon training.

I’m looking forward to the race! Only 28 days, 12 hours, 46 minutes and 40 seconds left! (Note: There is a countdown on the race website. And the amount has changed since I’m adding this note a few minutes later.)