Marathon Training
- Brenda Tollefson
- Aug 24, 2015
- 5 min read
My seven year old son is a born runner! Last year I had decided to get back into running shape and decided to sign myself up for a 5K. As an adult I don't really think 3 miles is all that far to run, but when my son asked me if he could run it with me I had some quorums. I told him that if he could run a mile with me, then I'd sign him up and we'd do a color run together. He ran the whole mile and kept up, so I obliged. This year I asked him if he'd like to run another 5K. He responded with a giant "No!" and followed it up with, "Can we run a marathon instead?" I had to draw the line there. Once again I bartered with him. I told him that if he could run 3 miles with me on our first run of the summer, then I'd sign him up for a half marathon. He ran and kept up with me, so once again, I obliged. And here is the log of how our training is going.
3 Months to go
With all the thunder storms and my husband’s work schedule we’ve only managed to run 1-2 times a week, but we’re still meeting our increases each week and we still have a few months before our big run. (I had to buy a new running stroller so we can still train when my husband has to fly early or go out of town). My biggest concern however, was my son’s asthma. I took him to the doctor to make sure his prescription was up to date and get the doctors opinion. Miraculously, he’s only had one minor asthma attack. He hasn’t even used his inhaler at all. If you look hard enough, you can always find a reason not to do something because it seems like too much work. Asthma could have been his excuse, but we’ve worked through it. A lot of people don’t know that with proper treatment Asthma can improve.
My other biggest concern was one of my own. I’m still on the mend from a torn tendon in my foot. I could have simply told him that we’d run it next summer and been completely justified, but instead I went to my podiatrist and asked how best to handle the situation. I began physical therapy to strengthen the muscles surrounding the tendon and never ever push through the pain associated with the injury. If it hurts more than it should, I call it quits for the day. It’s better to get in a partial run than have to miss your whole run the next day or week. This injury could have been my excuse, but sometimes you just have to try and see what you're really capable of.
My son wanted to run the half marathon with his Oma (and her cat, but that’s another story). She hesitantly agreed, and everyone’s excitement grew as we’ve all begun progressing towards this goal. My mom has some medical concerns of her own to work through, but has somehow managed to work through them so far.
2 Months to go
Oklahoma summers are so hot! We've began getting up at 4:30 in the mornings and it's already 80° outside and muggy. I must admit that most days I go back to sleep after our run, but my son seems to be handling the early mornings and the runs pretty well most days. I can tell he needs to start going to bed earlier, but all his friends are up late and want him to play. It’s hard to force him to choose sleeping over playing with his friends. It kind of breaks my heart that he has to get up so early and then cut his day short. So that he can run in the mornings.
On a slightly different note; I spoke with my mom. I told her that we’re only at 5 miles during our runs and she confessed to me that she only at 3 miles and mostly walking. That made me a little concerned because I know how hard we’ve been training to get where we’re at and I really don’t see anyway she’ll be able to catch up.
One Month to go
We’re one month out from our half marathon and only at 7 miles on our runs. We do 2-3 long runs each week with a shorter run on the days between and we take 2 days off each week (not consecutively) at this point. We are feeling the crunch for sure. We’re both pretty exhausted and cannot wait to be done with training. I really wish we had trained harder at the beginning of the summer so we didn’t have to work so hard now. My son told me that next year he doesn’t want to do another half marathon. He wants to do a triathlon instead. This boy clearly has me in over my head!
Every week when we do our increase, we hit a snag. There’s always lots of resistance (and sometimes yelling and crying involved), but we push through and manage to maintain our increases every week. We’re holding on, and that’s about it at this point. We also had to step up our speed a few weeks ago when we found out that a friend of mine will be getting married the same day as our half marathon, so if we want to have time to get ready for the wedding we need to maintain a 15 minute mile for the entire 13.1 miles. Wish us luck! At this point, we’re going to need it.
Two Weeks to go
We are down to the wire now! We’ve only got two weeks left until the big day and I’ve never been so afraid of not meeting my goal. My husband is leaving for a week on Monday which only gives us 2 more chances to run before he leaves. Only hours after he returns from his trip we will be heading out the door driving to Minnesota. Unfortunately, we can’t delay our departure a day because my daughter will be baptized first thing the next morning in Minnesota. I have planned our trip so that there will be little time for anything unexpected, but I have allowed time for running and getting plenty of sleep as I’m certain we’re going to need it.
The other concern of mine, and quite possibly the bigger concern, I have gotten chin splints and my tendon injury has been in a lot of pain as well. I’m hoping that I can Ice it and take the week my husband is gone to recover, but as of now, we still haven’t run more than 6 miles (and even that was walking part of the way). I fear we are SO underprepared for our run. I have no doubt that we’ll go the entire 13.1 miles, but it’s not going to be a fun 13 miles that’s for sure!
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