30 Days Until London

The clock is now ticking down to race day. We are 30 days from race day. A good time to check in and see how I am doing.

Running is going well. Most of my runs have been on the treadmill, which ordinarily I advise not to do, but with heat and the hills in this area, I need the flatness of the treadmill to accomplish the training I need to do.

At this point I am hovering around a 16 min/mile. At the start of training I was a 16:50+ min/mile, so I have improved significantly. As long as I maintain that pace, I can have a solid race.

I feel stronger as a runner. It helps that I have incorporated personal training into my routine. My trainer Rob is getting be to work on my balance and will later add strength. So far I like the results.

The mental challenge is how to get through a long race. Again, this is where my long run plan has helped. I break down my runs into 20 minute increments. Now obviously I can't take a 1-2 minute break every 20 minutes, but I can do a bit longer walk to give some of the running muscles a break. My run/walk intervals right now are 5 min run/1 min walk. This also helps with the 20 minute segments. My mind feels more at ease if I think I get it to thinking I am running 20 minutes at a time, instead of 3+ hours. That just seems long and daunting.

My nutrition and hydration on the run has been Honey Stinger gels and Nuun. This is a good combination for me. I take the Honey Stinger Gold, which to me is just honey. YUM! Nuun is so much better than sports drink.

We have received all our travel documents. I know when to get my packet in London, and really all I will need to do is the run.

Tomorrow is an excellent test to see where I am, as I am planning a 2 hour run. 30 days.....

Charlie