Chevron Houston Marathon 2017 Training Week 16

Sweet 16! And just like that, we are half way through our training season. Crazy but true! I'm always glad that by this point in training, we have been establishing our base mileage for a while. When the longer miles roll around (15 plus) we will be ready to put on great training runs.

I rested a little bit but I kept going with my training. Last Saturday our group ran 13 miles. I told myself I'd take it easy and that was a great idea. It was quite warm out there. I also experimented with not taking clif shots but I took Bonk Breaker with me. It worked like a charm and I felt great! Instead of drinking the Gatorade on the route, I put Nuun in my water bottle. I've been doing this during the summer and it's worked very well! I am still trying to experiment with one more thing. I've heard great things about Generation UCan and I even bought a sample pack. For the life of me, I cannot find it, so, I might go to the store to get another pack and experiment with it during the run tomorrow. This is the time to try new things but by the time we reach 17 plus miles, I want to have an established plan for marathon day.

I joined my friends early in the morning for hill training again this week. We actually run bridges and if you go and return, you'll run them 6 times. Well, we did 8 and our goal is to work up to 12. The workout was great because for the first time I added intervals, which helped me run a bit better. I also forgot to eat before I showed up. I won't be doing that again. I could totally feel I was running out of gas towards the end. I drank coffee and water but nothing else. My friends kept saying that the reason why we were doing hill training is so that Mile 23 at Houston will be easier. I thought, that's exactly why I am here too.

I made changes with training and nutrition so that the second half of the marathon will be my strongest. It's hard work but because I have clear vision of my goal, the steps are all worth taking.

Tomorrow we cut the mileage down a bit (11 miles) because we are getting ready for the first of 3 Houston Marathon Warm-up Series races. My goal is to do it in 2:30 or bellow.

A bit of Houston Marathon news: there are Charity entries available if you want to join us. The Chevron Houston Marathon is such a great event, you will be so glad you registered! Please visit their website for more details. 

Have a super day friends!

Previously in this Series:
• Week 1
• Week 2
• Week 3
• Week 4 - Barry Walter
• Week 5 - Christine Soliman

• Week 6 - Ron Booth
• Week 7
• Week 8
• Week 9

• Week 10 - Sarah Carr

• Week 11
• Week 12 - Coach Brian Stonesifer

• Week 13
• Week 14
• Week 15

Read the stories of my previous Marathons in Houston:
• Chevron Houston Marathon 2014
• Chevron Houston Marathon 2015
• Chevron Houston Marathon 2016