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

[WillRunForPizza]

@nancipants reminded me...did you get more of your iron/blood test results? Seems like you had been waiting for things after the ferritin reading, but maybe I missed something.

Oh yeah, I guess I never did share that. So in addition to my ferritin being low, my vitamin D and vitamin B12 were also pretty low (still technically in the normal genpop range, but not good for runners). My serum iron, saturation, and hemoglobin levels are good, though. My A1c was actually elevated, but apparently if you are an athlete that actually means you're not eating enough (and can be caused by low ferritin too) rather than being at risk for diabetes. That was kind of a puzzle because I feel like I eat a lot, but I also don't track calories or macros or anything, so I don't know exactly how much.

I've been taking iron (ferrous bisglycinate), vitamin D3, and a B-complex vitamin for a few weeks now. I started out with ones I just picked up at Whole Foods, but then I ordered some from The Feed that are third-party tested (so I can be more confident I'm actually getting what it says on the label). I keep hoping they will kick in soon, but so far I don't feel any different. If anything I feel more tired.

 

[avondale]

Odd that the other iron markers are not low, but maybe that means the anemia isn't too bad! Fingers crossed on that. Taking extra D3 and B doesn't really hurt anything, and hopefully they'll be helpful for you.

I feel like this is something that is hard to tell what's helping because all of them are relatively slow to take effect. Are you tracking your moods/fatigue? Could be helpful to decide how things are trending because just trying to remember that sort of thing back more than a day or two is pretty unreliable. At least you are recording things about your training.

 

[WillRunForPizza]

Odd that the other iron markers are not low, but maybe that means the anemia isn't too bad!

My understanding is that it's anemia only if your hemoglobin is also low; low ferritin alone doesn't make you anemic. But low ferritin alone is apparently a thing, especially in endurance athletes.

Are you tracking your moods/fatigue?

I'm not sure how I would do that (or whether I want to), but given that I slept normally and then woke up, took the dog out, and went back to bed both Monday and Tuesday this week, I'd say I'm still pretty tired.

 

[WillRunForPizza]

October 13 - 19, 2025
Marathon training week 15 | 7 days until Marine Corps Marathon
In which reality is unpleasant

Monday
off

I was tired.

Tuesday
Easy/hill strides: 4.1 miles (9:58), avg. HR 151, max 182, 81% Z1-2
Upper body strength

I meant to run in the morning as usual, but I was so tired that I just went back to bed after walking the dog. I did the same thing on Monday. How is it that I start supplementing to address my fatigue-inducing deficiencies and three weeks later I only feel more tired??

I was still tired in the afternoon, but I convinced myself that I really needed to just do my run. Everything was going okay until around mile 2, when my ankle started to hurt in a new and weird way. Enough that I couldn't really keep running on it. I stopped for a bit to try to stretch it out, and after a minute or so back running, it was okay. But I decided to turn around there anyway. I didn't have any (new) problems the rest of the run, though.

Wednesday
Workout: 8 x threshold hills/jog down
11.6 miles, avg. HR 161, max 183
Lower body strength




I felt less exhausted than Monday/Tuesday, which was something. However, when I started trying to run faster, my legs felt sort of jello-y. Like that shaky feeling you get when you're hungry. (Even though I did eat breakfast as usual, and had gels on my run.) Not sure what was going on there. It also felt kind of hard, even though you'll notice that I didn't really do the floats.

My ankle felt more or less okay, though. It ached a bit, but more like my peroneal tendon was just being a little grumpy.

Thursday
off

I was really tired again. I decided if I was going to keep being this tired, I should just have an extra rest day, and did my best to impersonate a sloth.

Friday
Easy/hill strides: 8.3 miles (9:52), avg. HR 150, max 179, 88% Z1-2
PT exercises

I felt better after my Sloth Day. I decided to do my medium-long (ish) run on Friday instead of Saturday - the point of doing the medium-long run on Saturday was to build fatigue resistance with back-to-back long runs. Nine days out, there's no more fatigue resistance to build, so it's better to spread the longer runs out so I have time to recover.

I also made sure to fuel on this run, which I don't always on an 80-minute easy run. (Should, but sometimes don't.) Apparently fueling is actually more important during the taper:

1. Your stomach lining replaces itself frequently, so you really want to make sure it knows what to do with in-run fueling. If you don't fuel, even though your runs are easier/shorter, your stomach might forget how it works, and then on race day you will have some problems. (Obviously this doesn't really apply for shorter races, but for marathons, definitely.)

2. Fueling well helps with muscle recovery. The taper is all about recovery.

Saturday
Easy/hill strides: 5.6 miles (10:09), avg. HR 147, max 177, 92% Z1-2

I didn't write notes for this run, and one day later I can't remember anything worth noting.

I should have done a core workout, but I was busy and so I saved it for Sunday.

Sunday
Long: 10.6 miles w/ 5 x 5 min M/1 min, avg. HR 155, max 173
Core



Well that's...not encouraging. My average pace for the M intervals was 8:16, which is...I don't know, like a 3:38 marathon? Give or take a minute or two. Objectively that's a perfectly decent time, but it's very far from what I was hoping for.

Then when I got about half a mile from home, some guy stepped out right in front of me without warning and then yelled at me for bumping into him. So all in all, great morning.

Totals
6h 26m, 40.2 miles
1h 25m
7h 52m

Coming up


Well, it's race week. Normally I would be excited. After last year's marathon and especially after Princess, I had high expectations for this race. But this whole training block has been essentially a steaming pile of garbage. It's hard to be excited when you have been trying really hard to do everything right and just keep getting slower. I mean, maybe after tapering and another week of supplements, I will feel miraculously better? Otherwise, I have low expectations.

 

[nancipants]

I’m sorry this training block has been so rough. I was really glad to hear the race was still going on and hope you have a great run and a great time (both on the clock and in general). Next time we’re at an expo together, I’ll buy you a pretzel.

 

[avondale]

Ditto on @nancipants . I do feel like at this point in your taper, resting may be the most important thing...just running as much as you feel you need to keep your legs "fresh". (This is a term people use that I don't think I've ever felt, personally.)

We can hope that the excitement of race day will recharge you!

Any news about whether the race is going to be affected by the shutdown? I haven't heard anything recently, but I haven't gone out of my way to look for it. At this point, it seems unlikely the shutdown will end before the race.