Monday’s 12 Miles Marathon Training

Yesterday was my 12 mile long, slow distance day.  I walked my regular 5 mile walk with Terri around the neighborhood. The weather was a cool low 60’s degree day.  Hooray for the mild temperatures of September!  The last 7 miles were at a jog 3 minutes / walk 2 minutes pace on the treadmill.

.5% incline treadmill
4.5 mph jog / 3.5 mph walk

After 10 miles I was starting to doubt my ability to keep jog/walking but I pushed forward and kept up the pace.  I checked the time of my gymboss pacer quite often during the last mile.  After I completed the 12 miles, I was extremely proud of myself. 

I have to say I love this new training schedule.  The jog/walk ratio seems to be working.  Today is my rest day and I don’t feel any pain or muscle soreness.  Next week is an easy 6 miler and the following week is 14 miles.  The training schedule is quite different than the other one I followed for my previous marathons and half-marathons.  This new one is much easier.  I’m trusting the authors of the book, Marathoning for Mortals, that they know what they are talking about.

I also had a doctor’s appointment about my big toe. A friend thought my big toe might have had toenail fungus. Sounds yucky doesn’t it? I was not looking forward to taking another pill for 3 months. Turns out my toenail was just damaged from the trauma of running. I’ve lost three toenails thanks to jogging. This sounds painful but it isn’t. The toenails bothered me but it wasn’t anything I couldn’t live with. The one that really hurt was the big toe in question. I kept getting an ingrown toenail that hurt like the dickens. The toenail was obviously bruised and had been damaged for a long time. When it came off, it was a relief. The pain of the ingrown toenail stopped. If it didn’t look so odd, I’d be happy to keep it off forever. Unfortunately, I’m vain and I like the way my toenails look after a pedicure.