MCM Week 18: The Final Stretch

After a grueling summer, I made it to the last week of my marathon training before running my third marathon and first Marine Corps. Just like the final mile of a marathon, I just had to get through these last few busy days before claiming victory. I somehow got through the mental gymnastics and made it to D.C.

Here's the plan breakout for Week 18:

• Sunday – 12 miles Long

• Monday – 4 miles Easy

• Tuesday – 6 miles Easy

• Wednesday – 11 miles Tempo: 1.5 miles WU, 8 miles Easy w/ 3 x 2 min @ MP w/ 2 min jog

• Thursday – Crosstrain

• Friday – 4 miles Easy

• Saturday – 3 miles Easy Shakeout

What actually happened:

• Sunday – 11 miles Long

• Monday – Lifting

• Tuesday – 5.55 miles (Bedminster)

• Wednesday – Rest

• Thursday – 7 miles Easy (Sandy Hook)

• Friday – 3.45 miles Easy (Highlands)

• Saturday – 3 miles Easy Shakeout (Highlands)

I intended to run 12 miles to Sandy Hook and back and pick up my bagel on my recovery walk, but I got distracted at some point during the run and miscalculated my turnaround. I was a mile short, but I didn’t care. I spent my rest time that afternoon watching the Giants blow a big lead within the last 10 minutes of the game. Once the game was over, my brain was back to ruminating about the upcoming week and race. My “Sunday Scaries” had a strong hold on me and as enjoyable as I find my line of work, I felt so burnt out that I didn’t want to have to work this week. In hindsight, taking on two new clients right before my big event was probably too much of a mental load, but I also needed the distraction from overthinking my packing for the long weekend away.

I didn’t sleep well at all, so I opted for a strength training session instead of running on Monday morning. As usual, I was tempted to go heavy on my lifts, but the goal for this workout was to keep my joints mobile and wake up the supporting muscles that I would need to fire on all cylinders in a few days. The weather was also questionable, and my marathon running client doesn’t run in the rain, so we opted to reschedule our session. I had a busy afternoon schedule and was getting overwhelmed by all the things I needed to do before we left on Saturday.

On Tuesday morning I drove straight to work for the rescheduled client session and ran on the bike path later in the morning. The leaves in the woods finally resembled autumn, and it was quite cold out compared to what I had been running in all summer, so I welcomed the slight chill. My mind kept going over my to-do list ad nauseum throughout the day and night.

On Wednesday, I was so drained that instead of running at sunrise, I grabbed a bagel and drove straight to work. I was stuck in traffic for 2 hours when a normal commute should be one hour, so I ended up eating the bagel in the car. I was so grumpy when I got to work. I wanted the energy for any form of workout, but all I could manage was a little walk. I had to conserve my energy for the race, and that included both my body and my mind.

I ran just after sunrise on Thursday morning and took some pics of the pretty cumulostratus clouds over the ocean. I kept an easy pace for 7 miles before working from home. Unfortunately for me, my admin work was busier than normal so instead of catching up on these blog posts after working from home, I was exhausted and couldn’t wait to take my eyes off a computer screen for the rest of the day. I started my carb-loading, where I concentrated most of my food intake on complex carbohydrates instead of protein, so my tummy wasn’t happy from the extra bloat. The one thing I looked forward to that day though was my pre-race massage to get the knots out. All my stress was hanging out in my upper traps and hips, and it felt great to release the built-up tension.

Cumulostratus clouds over Sandy Hook in October 2025

It was really cold out on Friday morning, so I had an extra layer on and some gloves for my short run to Sandy Hook at sunrise. I kept it nice and easy, even though my body wanted more. I was busy getting ready for the weekend; laundry, packing, re-packing, over-analyzing, quick errands, etc. took up most of my day. Traditionally we would get all-you-can-eat sushi before a big race, but I went to ShopRite and bought a lot of sushi from there to eat at home instead since I didn’t have the mental bandwidth to drive far for the restaurant. I was properly carb-loaded so that no matter what else I ate this weekend, I’d have full glycogen stores for my 26.2 on Sunday. I went to bed early to prepare for a busy morning.

I felt well-rested on Saturday, did my shake-out run, and got my bagels for the weekend. I was READY. It didn’t matter that I was 10 miles short of the planned volume during this last week of taper; we were off to Washington D.C. for my next 26.2!