1 Week!

Can you feel it?  I sure can!  The race is 1 week away.   I think I have trained enough and I think I have eaten well enough.  I guess I will find out in a week.  My issues with my knees is well chronicled so far and that is still my biggest concern.  I have written the organizers of the Derby Marathon to switch me to the Mini (twice) but I have yet to hear anything from them.  If they don't allow me to switch, I'm just going to do the best I can on the full and see what happens.  My chiropractor went to town on my knees, fascia, IT band, and whatever else he could get his hands on.  I've been trying to roll my muscles, fascia, and bands out with a simple rolling pin every day.  I"ve also been trying to ice the knees every day.  I'm praying that this is enough to get me through.  I have a feeling that it won't be but there is nothing that can be done about that. 

My workouts recently have been focused on tempo and cadence.  I never really knew what tempo consisted of or the importance of it but several people who have run marathons have told me recently that I really need to pay attention to the cadence of my strides.  Cadence prevents you from over striding, which is what I have fallen victim to throughout the course of my training.  I have loose knee joints and they don't like overstriding.  Elite marathoners generally focus on obtaining a cadence of 90-95 on one leg, which is easier to count.  The best to to count cadence is to count the strides on one leg for 15 seconds.  If you are between 22-24 strides, you are good.  Now I never said I was elite but I have been trying to keep this cadence for some shorter runs.  I did a 5k this morning and was able to keep this cadence the whole time.  Things may change quite a bit when I get to the full 26.2 and I may have to adjust my cadence to around 85-90.  For any marathoners reading this, let me know if I should focus on that right away.  My goal is to finish at 3:30.   But at least now I'm focusing on this and we'll see if this helps me with being able to finish the full marathon, which is the ultimate goal. 

There's a number of other races coming up including Warrior Dash, Spartan Race, Tough Mudder, Bix 7, and countless others.  I don't know what I am going to focus on next, if any.  I do have this prospective business opportunity coming that I am chomping at the bit to tell you about.  I trying really hard to not say anything until I get some stuff set in stone.  Let's just say I'm extremely excited and I think it'll change the face of fitness in Louisville (and Indy, and Cincy, and Lexington...).  That's a little hint for you as to what my long term plans are.  You never know, I may just put one in my hometown of Davenport, IA.