MCM REFLECTIONS AND LOOKING AHEAD

Beginning (I think) of the Mall section.

I did not expect to wait so long to write this! Yikes! Anyways, this post will be sort of quick and have two parts... reflections on MCM and then what I have been doing since.

As for the Marine Corp Marathon... well, I think I said most everything already! My training cycle went just about perfectly... I was able to hit all my runs and avoided injury. It was the best I had felt during a marathon training cycle in a long time, maybe ever. My psoriatic arthritis was a non-factor during training and the race. That was the biggest victory I think. To go from where I was, hobbling around in pain just walking, to running a marathon feeling strong... that's awesome. It was a long journey with small steps here and there, so while I was getting back to things it was easy to not appreciate it so much. However, looking back on the journey now that it is complete... that is something I can be proud of! I am SUPER happy with my performance and time at the race. Marathons are still... marathons... so I likely won't be running another one until next fall. I think I am a one-a-year type of guy.

After the marathon I took an entire week off, per my plan. I then ran my first run back on a Monday, another one on Wednesday, and then a 10-miler on Saturday. The week after that I then got back into my normal pattern of four times a week, although with slightly reduced mileage. So I went 5-4-6-10 for a total of 25 miles. I even had a tempo run in there. I was feeling decent, still a little worn from the race, but nothing major. However, as I continued to try and keep that pace up, my legs were not improving. In fact, they seemed to be getting worse. Just really fatigued and heavy feeling. I think I was still recovering from the marathon and might have tried to jump back into it too soon.

From the uphill finish (can you tell?)

I actually did twelve miles last Sunday in preparation for the Holiday Half Marathon on December 9th. However, my legs still felt super dead and I didn't seem to be making any improvement in that area. So basically I am taking this entire week off. Hopefully I can get them feeling back to normal soon. They felt fine my first couple runs back from the marathon, but whatever recovery I had made by then seemed to be wiped out by my return to running. I don't think this is related to my psoriatic arthritis in any way though... my knees feel fine and the other "hot spots" around my body are fine as well. So it's just muscle fatigue hopefully.

Due to my dead legs, I did not end up doing a turkey trot. I had planned to do the Give N' Gobble, like in 2013 and 2017, with the goal of making it my "annual" turkey trot moving forward. And I would still like to do that in 2019. However, it wasn't in the cards this time around. I also wanted to hit the Holiday Half hard and see if my marathon training resulted in any pick up of speed. Unfortunately, with that being a mere 9 days away and with the current state of my legs... that will not be setting any records. Hell, if I get under two hours I'll call it good. After that race I'll evaluate the leg situation and make a plan going forward. The goal is to get some shorter races and speedwork in during the spring to get faster and then likely start training for a fall marathon sometime in mid-June.

Anyways, that is the update. Thoughts and prayers for my exhausted legs.