Week 7 of marathon training is in the books:

Man this was a huge week for me. I ran 43.5 miles, and my feet feel like flapjacks.
All kidding aside this was probable the most miles I ever run in a week, and it felt good. Today, Sunday was a 14 miler, so I planned a double loop so I could stop back at the house and reload my water bottles.

Today I tried to match race conditions as closely as I could. I followed my planned nutrition, I ate one banana in the morning and two Rolaids, washed it down with about 8 ounces of water. Then on the road, I drank 4 large bottles of 75% Gatorade 25% water drinking every four minutes or so, this way my stomach can handle the calories, and if my stomach started to shutdown I would know it sooner than later. I also had three GU brand gels, I had `espresso love` with caffeine, boy do I love the taste, but more importantly my body loves it too. I also ate another banana when I stopped back at the house.

My pace was very consistent mile to mile so I felt pretty good about that. The only thing I was somewhat unhappy with was my per mile pace, I only managed to average 12:23, and at that rate I would run a 5:24 marathon. I got to get this down a bunch. I feel that I can get this down to 11:15/30, so I need to take a minute off this. Pulling a minute off this pace, I must be crazy, I am and I freely admit it, but I held back a little, I wasn’t sure I could make the distance, so I padded it. Next week I have to run 15 miles for my long run, and I am going to hit it a little harder and really work on the pace. I also plan on taking better care of my self this week, this means betting to bed earlier, eating better, stretching more, and watching what I eat, I think I can lose two pounds this week and get a little lighter. I got to ramp up the water and green tea intake this week and really flush out the body. And it can only get cooler out, right…. The warm weather has got to be taking 15 seconds from me, I know it is.

So my run was cool, I felt good, just minor soreness, my Achilles pain was all but gone. The weather was pretty good, somewhere around 75-80 degrees and humid, but that’s loads better then the 85-90 it has been. I choose a loop that I really hadn’t run much so it felt new. My two loops shared the same roads for about 3 miles, but when I ran the common mileage, I ran them in different directions. The fist loop was a little hilly, it had one long grade then went on for about 1.5 miles, and I should of run it the other direction, and worked on running downhill. That sounds funny, working on my descents, but running downhill is my weakness, I run them too slow, and the load on my legs kills, I know should be able to make some time on them. The actual marathon course does have some hills, mostly rollers, so I need to get better on the hills. The rest of the run was quite, the flats were flat, and it was overcast, so the sun was not an issue. My nutrition was good, and my stomach was fine the entire way.

I had some good tunes on the iPod, I downloaded some real good music from the bands Drunks Don’t Lie, AC/DC, Beastie Boys, Tom Petty and so on, so I rocked the whole way. Please don't judge, but I love to run to some a$$ kicking tunes. I wonder of anyone has done a study on music and running, I am sure someone has, but I wonder of they measured performance and volume. For me volume has lots to do with my running, crank it up tunes, and the legs crank up. I am going to have to do some research.

So in a nutshell, I had a real nice week, I made all my miles and then some, and it can only get cooler out right?

-Brian

P.s.: I signed up for Masters swimming, and Monday night is my first night. More to come on that Tuesday morning.