Welcome to week 10 of our Marathon Training Blog series! Click here to read week 1!

Momma told me there would be days (or rather weeks) like this. Week 10 was brutal. I think I figured out what was wrong and I’m on the path to fix it, but it’s all a part of the journey, right? So, here it is. Week 10.

Week 10:

Monday: 4 mi EZ–Nope. We were actually supposed to rest last Sunday (which we did) and we were supposed to run 4 mile EZ pace. I’ll admit I didn’t notice this change in our training plan, but it wouldn’t have made a difference anyway. Something was off with me. I noticed it over the weekend. There’s too much to go into here, but something was off and my fatigue was through the roof. I slept and slept all weekend and went to bed early Monday night. On Monday we found out my D levels had tanked, even while on 50,000 IU/week of prescription Vitamin D. The doctor called in another round and we began researching why I was not absorbing. The only explanation I could come up with was that I had changed the time of day I was taking my D from evening to morning. I read that D should really be taken after your largest meal that had plenty of fat. I planned to make the change on Tuesday (when I take my weekly dose of D).

Tuesday: 4 miles didn’t happen. First regular weekday run I’ve missed in this training plan. I decided to get an extra hour of sleep when my alarm when off and pushed my run to the evening. But in the evening, I knew it was not going to happen. I took my D after dinner as I had planned. I gave in to fatigue and fell asleep at 7:00 pm. I moved myself to the bed at 10:00 and fell right back to sleep.

Wednesday: Crosstrain. By Wednesday evening, I began to feel the “D Surge” as I call it. I found myself cleaning at 9:30 pm and doing lots of squats, crunches, push ups, and planks. It felt so good to have some energy back!  I had to make myself go to bed and even then I couldn’t fall asleep until close to midnight. I worried I would pay for it when the alarm went off on Thursday, but I popped up at 4:45 am with no problem!

Thursday: 4.19 miles in 44m, 59s with an average of 10:45 min/mi. We ran outside and it felt good to be moving again. Brian tried out KT tape for the first time and did well!

Friday: CT or Rest. Rest.

Long Run Saturday–10 miles in 1:59:34 with an average of 11:57 min/mi. Say, what?!?!? SUB 12 min pace!  We were SOOO proud of ourselves and excited. Brian’s toes started to hurt at mile 5 and we’re wondering if the 2:1 run/walk ratio isn’t working for him. He’s planning to go back to the 1.5/.5 run/walk ratio to see if that clears up the issues with his Hallux Limitus. Walking seems to aggravate the issue.

Someone asked me recently if we were nervous about running a Marathon. I realized that I’m feeling more confident as I told them “We only had to run 10 miles this weekend!” Only 10 miles. I mean, when did 10 miles become “ONLY 10 miles” :)? We run 14 next week… which will be the longest we’ve ever officially ran at a time. Wish us luck!

Sunday: 3 mi EZ. Didn’t happen again. I mean, who’s really surprised by that at this point :).

So, the final assessment of week 10:

70%, C.  We knew every week would not be perfect. I’m hoping that this was a one-time deal and I’ll get my D levels balanced and will see the energy level increase.

We are half way there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Week 11 up next!