Count down time

I have run some 675+ km since first of June, have spent some serious number of hours on the road, have explored many new beautiful sceneries and have gone beyond my comfort zone again and again. And during the last week I have slept. I did not know it is even possible for me to sleep so much, I did not think it can feel normal to sleep on average more than nine hours a night plus a nap of 1-2 hours both Sat and Sun. I truly hope it is my body's plan to prepare for the marathon rather than the sign to prepare for the winter sleep.

There is another six days to go and I never thought I would feel so confident to run a marathon. Even though I took the challenge serious from the beginning, somewhere in the back of my mind I was asking myself if I will succeed. But now I am not anymore, I know I can run it. I know I will enjoy it even though I know it will also hurt. The question is how much and if I should go for more intense pain or longer pain... What do you think? Either way, it is part of the game and it cannot be anything compared to tonsillectomy nor delivering a baby.

So dear people, Sunday morning at 9 am (CET time) it is time to start running. Seriously. And some four hours later, it is time to party. Whatever the reason, party will be good. So please keep your fingers crossed and vote for number F11126 :)

27. September is getting closer

The date for the marathon is getting closer; I have another two weeks to go before the start.

The last couple of weeks have been high in kilometres and relatively high in intensity. I feel my legs being tired, as is my whole body. I am glad the coming days is focusing on tapering and the intensity and time spend on the road is much easier. 

Despite being really tired, I feel good. The training has gone well and it feels easy to run, even the long distances. Thanks to the core and flexibility training I have trained free of major injuries and I have learned to appreciate the balance and stability via the core. When I was rowing, it took it for granted that the core has to be strong, part of it comes automatically when on the boat or rowing machine, but it is not the same when running. You really need to take care of that and systematically add it into the training program, only then you will feel the difference.

So I have another two weeks to go before the marathon. When I started this project, I feared for two things. Firstly, I was not sure my head could handle the long runs. Well, it has not been easy but I made them all. I had my last 25k today and the rest of the runs are easy compared to that. Secondly I was not sure my legs could handle it. Not from the physical exercise point of view but regarding injuries. I have a history of shin splints and all that comes with it and I was not sure how my legs would react for serious increase in training kilometres. Even I had some challenges on the way luckily nothing so serious that it had caused any break in training. So all in all at the moment I feel pretty confident that I can do the marathon, surely I am aware that it is a long distance and anything can happen, but overall I believe I will be fine!