You must be swift as the coursing river (as long as it's the Lazy River) - comments welcome

[WillRunForPizza]

My ferritin was 11 when I got it checked a couple of years ago, and I've read the same literature about endurance athletes should shoot for 50. Everything else for me was in the normal range. I noticed a dramatic difference within 2 weeks of starting a supplement.

My all-knowing internet mom group (from my babywearing days....so we've all been "together" for 15-20 years at this point) recommends "blood builder" or "floradix" both of which can be found on amazon. I take a slow-release supplement (slow Fe) so that I don't get any GI issues that iron can bring on. Our XC team coaches are somewhat obsessive about the runners, especially the girls, getting their iron tested because it can make a difference of minutes in a 5k depending on how low they get. Of course, teenagers tend to be poor eaters when it comes to micronutrients, but low is low and should be addressed.

Good to know! I'll look into these. I have been taking ferrous bisglycinate because I've heard that's absorbed better than other forms and doesn't usually cause GI issues. I definitely do not feel dramatically better after one week of supplementing (not that I was expecting to, but if anything I've felt worse this week). But there is still...some time?

 

[avondale]

I had kind of forgotten that you hadn't written about your HM race yet! I know you weren't happy with it, but I'd give a kidney for a time like that, LOL. It was a great consistent effort.

I noticed a dramatic difference within 2 weeks of starting a supplement.

Lucky you! Hopefully things work quickly for @WillRunForPizza , too, but that was definitely not my experience.

I never had any GI problems from the Vitron-C, but maybe I'm just lucky. I did/do eat it with breakfast.


@WillRunForPizza - don't let the whole anemia thing get you down. It would be easy for this to get into your head and become "I can't do it" and then you don't. If you hadn't had the blood test, you would have just kept going with the training and making (hopefully) sensible decisions and adjustments about it. You have a fantastic marathon in you that's waiting to come out! You still have a nice taper to give you some rest time and you may end up feeling a lot better than you think you will.

 

[WillRunForPizza]

I had kind of forgotten that you hadn't written about your HM race yet! I know you weren't happy with it, but I'd give a kidney for a time like that, LOL. It was a great consistent effort.

It's all just relative. For a pro, that would have been a super chill easy run. And sure, it would be cool to be that fast, but I mostly just want to be faster compared to myself.

Lucky you! Hopefully things work quickly for @WillRunForPizza , too, but that was definitely not my experience.

I feel like the two of you must represent the extreme ends of iron supplementation timelines.

@WillRunForPizza - don't let the whole anemia thing get you down. It would be easy for this to get into your head and become "I can't do it" and then you don't. If you hadn't had the blood test, you would have just kept going with the training and making (hopefully) sensible decisions and adjustments about it. You have a fantastic marathon in you that's waiting to come out! You still have a nice taper to give you some rest time and you may end up feeling a lot better than you think you will.

For sure. But I don't want to have high expectations either because then I will likely (a) blow up and be miserable, or (b) go out at the right pace but be slower than I want and still be miserable. So there's some balancing going on.

 

[WillRunForPizza]

September 22 - 28, 2025
Marathon training week 12 | 26 days until Marine Corps Marathon
In which it is technically fall but actually just summer again

Monday
Yoga

I finally did some yoga. It was fine. I also did the mini-sauna. It was awful.

Tuesday
Easy: 6.6 miles (10:23), avg. HR 146, max 160, 99% Z1-2, T+D~130
Upper body strength

I was very tired. I went out hoping I would feel better after a mile or two, and I did, but only marginally. I skipped the strides because it felt like I had zero capacity for power output.

Wednesday
Workout: 6 x 3 min T/2 min CV/1 min hard/2 min
9.8 miles, avg. HR 163, max 193, T+D~140
Lower body strength



I felt better than Tuesday, which isn't saying much but also was kind of essential since I couldn't even manage a few strides on Tuesday. Here I at least cobbled together something resembling a workout, aided in part by 100mg of caffeine. I could have done without the humidity. I was walking the first half of the recovery starting around rep #3.

I had some technical difficulties here. My watch apparently decided to stop measuring my location/elevation after about rep #4, so the GAP isn't helpful for the last couple. (The final hard minute was mostly uphill, so in terms of effort it was for sure harder than it looks in the chart.) Then I had put in 7 reps instead of 6, and when I got to the 7th, I thought, "Maybe I can just do one more." And then I started it and I thought, "Or not." So I still just did 6 as scheduled.

Thursday
Recovery: 5.6 miles (10:58), avg. HR 142, max 155, 100% Z1-2, T+D~140

I have nothing good to say about this run.

Friday
Easy/hill strides: 8.6 miles (10:11), avg. HR 147, max 174, 97% Z1-2, T+D~135
Core

I am getting very tired of feeling terrible on all of my runs. I also did not mean to run this far; I changed up my route a bit and it added more distance than I expected. I thought about just walking the mile home from where I do my hill strides, but I was really thirsty and running was faster than walking.

Saturday
No downhill left behind, briefly: 4.3 miles (10:22), avg. HR 142, max 166, T+D~135
PT exercises

I was out with friends Friday night and didn't get home until 10 (which is definitely past my bedtime), and when I got up I really didn't want to run. I managed to get myself out the door but felt super tired, legs heavy, all that fun stuff. I figured I'd do maybe 9 miles instead of 12 or so like I would have normally, but as I got to the light where I usually turn around for threshold hills, my ankle started to hurt, and I just went, "F***. This." And then I turned around and went home.

My ankle actually felt fine after a couple of minutes, but at that point I was already over it and I still felt like crap and I couldn't be bothered to go finish the run.

Sunday
Long: 4 3 x 1 mile M/0.5 miles HM/1 mile M/2 min
15.4 miles, avg. HR 158, max 179, T+D~135-140



After Saturday, I didn't know what to expect going into my long run. But I figured unless I felt miraculously better, I would probably do 2-3 sets rather than 4.

I felt a little better when I went out, but nowhere near 100%. So I was mostly just hoping to get in any pace work at all. As it turned out, the intervals actually felt more normal than running easy - my legs were tired and heavy for both, but maybe that's just more in line with my expectations for work than recovery.

Anyway, I got through three sets, and I felt like I could have done the last one, but I didn't want to dig myself into an even deeper hole, so I didn't. My legs felt extra tired the rest of the way home, so that was probably a good choice.

It's also possible that the only thing getting me through these at this point is Precision caff gels, so props to them I guess.

Totals
Running: 8h 17m, 50.4 miles
Strength/mobility: 2h 5m
Total: 10h 23m


I did not enjoy this week. It was humid and I felt terrible. Yesterday it occurred to me that part of my problem might be trying to train for a marathon while recovering from a half. I get why a tune-up half is useful, but I think it just may not work for me - when I did it a couple of years ago, I also felt awful for a week or two afterwards. So maybe things will get better as I get over that.

Coming up

I mean, we'll see how I feel the next few weeks. I was thinking I would try to do No Downhill Left Behind again this week, but maybe on Friday so I have a recovery day before my long run, because last time was rough. And then CV hills might not work out (plus it sounds very not fun ). So things may change.