Training is Tapering This Week

This is the last week of prep for the Avenue of the Vines half-marathon next Sunday. By Thursday, I will have logged 258 miles since I started training in the last week of January, and the race will add another 13 for a total of 271 miles! That's about three times the distance between Sacramento and San Francisco!

I walked 10 miles yesterday. I started walking at 6:45 a.m. and returned home at 10:15 a.m. - just in time for the nice Mother's Day brunch Pat and Laurel prepared: Eggs Benedict, toast, and coffee. I'll be attending the interval training on Tuesday, then the walking tapers off to 3 miles, 2 miles, and two days of rest before the race.

I saw a map of the course, and it looks like the grid is conveniently divided into 1-mile blocks, so it should be easy to pace myself. I know I can do it, but the thought of walking 4 1/2 hours nonstop is a little daunting! I downloaded some more marches to my Shuffle, including some circus marches, and that should help me focus during the last couple of miles.

Like a River

Way back in the '60s, there was a song we sang in church: "Peace is flowing like a river." That's how I feel when I walk along the levee in the mornings and evenings. This evening after work, I combined my half-hour levee walk with my half-hour Wenzel walk for a 3-mile workout. Evening sunsets are particularly beautiful at this time of year, and the cell-photo really doesn't do justice to the color and the serenity up on the levee.

My training program for the Train to End Stroke half-marathon requires that I walk a progressively greater number of miles each week. This week, I walked 11 miles; next week it will be 12 miles. My supervisors have been very supportive, and have given me day shifts exclusively until the half-marathon on May 18. Now I can participate in the evening training sessions with Team Sacramento, instead of training alone all week.

I've sent out the first wave of fund-raising e-mails and received enough contributions to put me at 25% of my goal already! The next group of letters will be directed toward my co-workers, and the third push will be at my Curves gym, where the manager has agreed to let me post information and a request for donations. For those with a voyeuristic bent, a progress chart is available on my donation page.