I didn’t realize I was already in the high mileage portion of my marathon training when I finished the Tower of Terror 10 miler race on October 5th.  But I was actually behind in my training.  When I returned home I had to turn my focus on to the marathon training plan.  According to the Galloway plan, I needed to do a 17 mile run on October 19th.    I haven’t gone more than 10 miles in the past month and the last time I did 13 miles was Labor Day weekend.  I knew I had to step it up; but I also had to do it in a way where I wouldn’t re-injure myself.  So my plan was to run up to Kevin’s work and back.  It was a 7 mile route each way.  Then on my return trip home if I was feeling good I can add miles close to home or just do those additional miles as a walk instead of a run.

I got Kevin on the bus, brought Adrienne to school, came home, had some apple sauce and then hit the road. It was a beautiful day that day.  I went up Cooke Road towards the vineyards and then to the reservoirs and through the back roads of Wallingford towards Meriden.  The roads were pretty flat after I go to the lakes.  I was really enjoying my route.  My pace was good and my legs were feeling like new again.

I had my ipod loaded up with my favorite podcasts, my old nathan fuel belt with 10 oz of water and 10 oz of Gatorade and 2 Gus.  I was on my way to a successful run.  I left my house around 9:30 and expected to be at Kevin’s work between 10:45 and 11:00.  I was close to my estimate and arrived at 11:00.  I took a short break, refilled my water bottles and had a Gu.  I visited with Kevin for a few minutes and knew I had to get back on the road for the remainder of the trip home which would take the same amount of time.  I knew that I needed to get back home in time to shower and have lunch and get ready to pick up Adrienne from school.  It took me about 90 minutes to run to Kevin’s work so it would take that much time or more to run back home if I wanted to add additional miles.

On the run towards Kevin’s work I had a little hidden Minnie surprise me on the side of the road.  That was the little bit of Disney magic to help me feel successful with this run and to know I was working towards my end goal, the Walt Disney World marathon training.

The return trip home was just as nice as the first half of my route.  I ran past the lakes and back up Northford Road towards our house.  I took an additional detour which I knew would give me a total of 15 miles.  I decided that instead of increasing my longest run by 7 miles, an additional 5 to total 15 would be a good compromise.  Then on my 20 mile run I can increase by another 5 miles pretty safely.  The last part of my run gave me a smile when I ran past these pumpkin people.

I am looking forward to another long run on November 8th and hope it is as successful as this one.  I must admit that my marathon training seems to be going much easier than my Dumbo Double Dare training did and I don’t understand quite why.  I am still training for a 10K and this time a full instead of a half marathon.  My thoughts are that it is not the hot summer months that I am training in, I am no longer injured and going to physical therapy, and there are longer spans between long runs to allow for recovery.  I was afraid for a while because I know what is involved in marathon training and wasn’t sure I wanted to commit to those long miles again.  I was nervous because I had just come off of an injury with 2 months worth of physical therapy.  But thankfully that therapy was successful and has also taught me what to do to help remain healthy.

How are you all doing with your WDW marathon training?  Are you ahead of schedule, on schedule or behind schedule?