My Plan, a Full Nelson

I think the few of you that read my blog are well aware of my challenges in preparing for a planned marathon in April. With the Kearny 9 mile run on February 21st, followed up with a successful 12 mile run on the 28th, I started to do the calculations. With 7 weeks until the Salt Lake Marathon I am asking myself if there is a logical path between where I am right now and the possibility of running a full marathon on April 18th. By "logical" I mean that there is a training plan that follows safe guidelines to prepare me for 26.2 miles that doesn’t take shortcuts which would open me up to even more injury. I think there is, but only one.

Every plan you look at has two basic elements of minimal training to realistically prepare for a marathon. One, you have to have run at least one run of at least 20 miles and Two, you should not increase weekly mileage by more than 10-15% week to week. Beyond those elements there are other things that are desirable but not as critical. Things like, you should be running at least 35 miles a week (and if you are doing 20 on one day, this is really not that hard!), you should aim for your long runs to be no more than 50% of your weekly miles, you should have a 2-3 week "taper" to allow your body to rest and repair training damage prior to race day. There are a million other things, but these are the elements I contemplated in my situation.

First, where am I right now? The last two weeks have been 18.5 and 22 miles respectively with the long runs I mentioned above, 9 & 12. I have been doing almost all of my weekday runs on a treadmill and not once over 4 miles. The miles on the treadmill are easier on my knees and I can do more of the proper stretching on a carpeted floor in a heated house than leaning up against a car at 5am in 40 degree weather. So, as much as I cringe at the treadmill training, I think it will be key to getting me to the Full Marathon.

So the key to my plan is the month of March! Each Saturday in March my long run will have to lengthen by 2 miles; 14, 16, 18, 20. If I can do that, I can then taper back down to race day in April; 16, 10, 26.2. If for any reason I fall off of that schedule, I think it would be unrealistic and dangerous to run the full marathon and I will step back down to train for a half-marathon which I am confident I would be able to complete that day. (Unless my knee completely blows up... then I walk the 5k… but that’s not going to happen, right?)

So here is the plan, you can follow my log on the right side of the page to see how I do each week but I will keep you posted on any significant deviation or development.

Week Ending......Long Run Length (miles)....Total Miles for Week
March 7....................................14.........................................25.5
March 14..................................16.........................................29.5
March 21..................................18.........................................34
March 28..................................20........................................39
April 4.......................................16.........................................34
April 11.....................................10.........................................24
April 18 ...................................26.2......................................34.2

The other element of my training that has had me thinking a lot lately is what to use as my motivation. I have almost always had the motivation of wanting to set a new personal record in any race I have run. The ONLY instance that I didn’t improve on my previous record at a race distance in the last 3 years was last years Peachtree Road Race on the 4th of July when I was running with 55,000 people and it was more for the experience than a PR. But I still ran a good time.

This time around I am not trying to kid myself into thinking I will improve my marathon time. I hope I do, and I will pace initially for a 4 hour marathon, but I would be shocked if this level of training and my patched together knees would allow me to finish there.

Last fall I found the fundraising I did for Diabetes Action to be very rewarding and provided a lot of strength and motivation over the final grueling miles of that run. I’m not doing another fundraiser at this point, one because I can only humble myself to ask for donations from friends and family only so often, and two because I have neither the time nor resources to put something like that together like I did last year.

So I asked myself, "Why am I running in Salt Lake when injury and lack of training would dictate perhaps putting it off?" It started off as something that would be fun to share with more of my brothers and sisters but that alone doesn’t get me over the hurdles I have been jumping. The biggest reason I can’t pull out now is that my two sisters would probably KILL me, but that gets me to Salt Lake, not through 26.2 miles.

I haven’t asked my sister if this was okay, but I hope she will forgive me. Last Saturday, on my long run, I had a kernel of an idea that sprouted into a full concept in a dream I had Sunday night. My nephew Nelson has been fighting more health issues during his 10 years of life than any human should face in a lifetime. He went into the hospital on Saturday, I’m sure that is why he was in my thoughts. The further I ran that day, the more the concept of completing the Full Marathon became a reality to me.

Forgive the terrible play on words here but I kept thinking things like, "Run the Full for Nelson" and other pun variations of the worlds most notorious wrestling headlock… "I can escape from a Full Nelson", "Life is a Full Nelson", you get the picture. Sunday night I dreamt that I ran the whole race wearing a shirt reading "Put me in a FULL NELSON!" with my nephew’s face on the front. If you have ever been put in a Full Nelson (as the youngest of 8 kids, trust me, I have) it can be suffocating, frustrating, and painful. The key to escaping this hold involves flexibility, relaxation, strength, and perhaps more than anything else, patience. What a great metaphor that is not only for my race, but life in general.

The more I have thought about it, the more right it feels. So, I hope my sister and brother-in-law don’t mind but I am dedicating this run to their son who has shown more flexibility, strength, and patience than most grown men have been asked to have. His relaxed, matter of fact demeanor that I have seen in him, belies the pain and struggle he has faced and overcome each time. I hope I have half his composure when I hit the wall somewhere near mile 23 (based on previous experience).

And what if I falter this month and can’t do the full marathon? Hey, a HALF Nelson is a wicked strong headlock as well!