September 29 - October 5, 2025
Marathon training week 13 | 21 days until Marine Corps Marathon
In which there are some potential hiccups
Monday
off
Probably nothing exciting happened, but who can remember.
Tuesday
Easy/strides: 6.7 miles (9:32), avg. HR 150, max 182, 83% Z1-2, T+D~135 
Upper body strength
I felt better than last week. Except that my knee did its weird popping thing a few times in mile two. It went away after that.
Wednesday
Workout: 10 miles M
13.1 miles, avg. HR 162, max 177, T+D~115 
Pilates
Guess where the problem occurred...
I've given up on expecting anything in particular at this point, so my plan was to go out and run at more or less marathon effort and see what happened. The first few miles were a little rough, but eventually I kind of settled in. (Related: I need to order some more caffeinated gels.)
I decided to turn around at 6.5 miles because I really didn't need more than a mile cool-down. I got to the end of the paved part of the trail at 6.4 miles, so I ran a little bit on a somewhat rocky actual trail. I turned around at mile 6.5, ran about 30 feet back, and promptly rolled my ankle on a rock.
I had a moment of "oh no what do I do" because I was at the farthest point from my house and there was basically nothing around. But after panicking for a minute, I realized it didn't actually hurt anymore, and I just finished the run like normal and it was more or less fine.
Unfortunately but probably unsurprisingly, my ankle was a little sore afterwards. I took some precautionary ibuprofen and put a heating pad on it (apparently ice is out now).
Other than the ankle issue, I feel like the run went okay. I averaged 7:56 pace for the 10 miles (or 9.99 miles if you ask Strava), and I got faster towards the end and didn't feel like I was dead when I stopped. 7:56 per mile is a 3:28 marathon, which I guess would at least be a PR? I don't know, we'll see.
When it came time to do my strength training, I felt okay, but it occurred to me that putting extra weight on my slightly injured ankle was perhaps not the best way to make it get better quickly. So I did some Pilates on the floor instead.
Moral of the story: Don't run even for 0.2 miles on a rocky trail in unstable carbon-plated shoes three and a half weeks out from your race, especially if you never run on trails.
Thursday
Yoga
My ankle was not bruised or swollen, but it was a little stiff, so I decided to give it an extra day just in case. I did yoga that was entirely on the floor instead.
Friday
Easy/hill strides: 6.3 miles (9:58), avg. HR 147, max 179, 96% Z1-2, T+D~110
Core
My ankle felt pretty much okay in the morning. However, you will note that I did not try to do No Downhill Left Behind. It seemed like a Bad Idea. I just did my regular Friday run instead.
Saturday
NULB: 11.3 miles (9:49 | 9:36 GAP), avg. HR 152? max 179? T+D~115-125
PT exercises/lower body strength
You'd think taking a day off on Thursday would have made my legs feel fresher, but no, they were really tired. I might as well have done No Downhill Left Behind for how dead they felt at the end of the run. Except that probably wouldn't have been good for my ankle.
Also my armband was dead and I'm pretty sure my watch did a terrible job measuring my HR, so I'm assuming this data is basically useless.
Sunday
Long: 18.9 miles (9:27), avg. HR 152, max 176, 89% Z1-2, T+D~115-125
I think caffeine might be magic.
Seriously, I start out feeling like a dead slug, and then I have a caffeinated gel, and 15 minutes later I'm like, "Oh yeah, this is fine." Look, you can probably see where the caffeine kicked in:
Unfortunately, caffeine doesn't really fix fatigue in your legs, so by about 10 miles in I was feeling it. I stopped to pee and refill my water at about mile 14, and when I started moving again, my legs felt like they were made of wood. But I survived, thanks, again, mostly to about 250g of carbs and 125mg of caffeine.
The downside of caffeine is that it doesn't just go away when you're done running, so now I am both tired and wired.
Not my favorite feeling. Still worth it, though.
Totals
Running: 8h 48m, 56.4 miles
Strength/mobility: 2h 13m
Total: 11h 1m
My MCM race packet arrived this week, which is exciting. My bib has a gold stripe that says "Seeded Runner" on it, which makes me feel all special inside. Unfortunately, my bib also has folds in it, because whoever packed the envelope decided the best way to fit the bib in there was to fold it in thirds. Including across the timing chip.
So I emailed the MCM people to say, "Um, will this work? Cause somebody screwed up here, and it wasn't me." Maybe they can mail me a new chip. This is a assuming we even have a race, because it turns out that more than half of the course is on roads that NPS manages and permits are canceled during a shutdown. Just joy all around.
Coming up
This is a lie. I decided since I didn't do No Downhill Left Behind this week because of my stupidity-induced ankle boo-boo, I would do it as my workout next week. It is basically a workout anyway. So no CV hills (oh darn).
Then I was supposed to do the Army Ten-Miler on Sunday, but they moved the expo from the (Metro-accessible) DC Armory to a (not Metro-accessible) random strip mall in Springfield. I assume this is also shutdown-related, and I sympathize, but I am also not willing to make a 4-hour round trip on the Metro + bus or pay $100 for an Uber to pick up my bib for what is essentially a training run. I have emailed them also, but my expectations are low.
