Half-Marathon Training: Week of December 7th

Week of December 7th: Marathon Training Progress

Here's an update on training progress for the week of December7th. 

On Sunday, December 7th, my wife and I took a 4.5 mile hike at the arboretum. It was cold, but nice. That evening, for some reason, I decided after brushing my teeth, that I was going to drop and crank out just 10 push-ups.

I will add that my Mars Men T-Supplement arrived late Saturday night, but today was the first day I took it so I do not credit it for the desire to do 10 push-ups. It was just something I did.

On Monday, I got off work and really didn't feel like running even though I had told myself I would all day. I just wasn't feeling it and my ankles were hurting for some reason. But I sucked it up a little bit, put on a jacket and hat and told myself I'd walk 30 minutes. I ended up walking around 35 minutes so that was something. I also did 15 body-weight squats before bed.

On Tuesday, I didn't do anything. My ankles were pretty sore from the day before. 

On Wednesday, I did my arm curls, front raises and side raises before bed but no running. 

Thursday I didn't do anything due to work. I was on the road to Raleigh at 8 a.m., drove the 4 hours there, dropped off the equipment I had to take them and then drove home. However, on the way home, I did stop and see my son in Chapel Hill. We had lunch and I got to see his new place. Then I dropped him off at the airport on my way home. I got home around 8:15-8:30 p.m. and I was pretty beat. 

Friday we went downtown and walked around and shopped so that was some walking but I don't think it was too much. We did finish by walking up the same hill that the 2012 Asheville Half-Marathon went up around mile 12.9. That brought back some good memories. That was the year I ran Sub-2. Hard to believe that was 13 years ago. Crazy stuff!

Saturday, December 13th: 6 weeks to go before the Half. 

Saturday, my wife and I hiked 3.5 miles in DuPont Forest and took a trail to see the Wintergreen Falls. 

My weight started and ended this week at 202.2 lbs. I'm not sure what's happening and why my weight seems to be at a new set point. I'm not happy about that but we'll keep plugging along and trying to eat better. I hate that I'm over 200 lbs. If I was bigger guy, it would be a fine weight, but I'm only 5'7". They say that a better metric for weight is a waist: height ratio. One's waist should be half their height. So even on this front at a 35" waist (and that might be being kind) I fail the weight test. 

Overall, I'm feeling strangely more and more positive about the half but worried my ankles aren't getting better. Of course, I'm not very good at doing my exercises so that's on me. 

My fear is that I may be thinking I can do this since I ran a marathon. However, that was back in March, and I did NOT keep up that level of fitness. I really feel like I'm starting at square one. The weather is not cooperating either. It's been cold and sometimes rainy this week. In fact, tomorrow is supposed to be really cold with "feels like" temps in the single digits.