Marathon week is here again. Didn’t I just have one of those? Still kicking myself for signing up for an extra marathon on a 20 miler runners high. A rookie mistake, but I’m excited nonetheless.

I thought I’d lay out some of my marathon week “musts.” Here they are:

• Foam rolling – I do not enjoy foam rolling, so I don’t do it as often as I should, but I force myself to roll for a bit every day of marathon week.
• Higher water intake- I attach my Camelbak to my hand (okay not actually). I try to drink an extra 40 ounces of water a day than I usually do.
• Extra sleep- Less running gives me more time to sleep. I try to get to bed earlier and I take full advantage of that extra hour in the morning.
• Stretching- I try to stretch for awhile before bed every night. This week in particular I am doing a few yoga poses each day. I’m really trying to make yoga more of an every day occurrence.
• Reflection- I like to go through old race photos and think back to what went well in the past. It makes me more excited than nervous. I’ve done it before, so what’s another marathon, right?
• Nutrition focus- I try to avoid sugar and alcohol all week. Emphasis on try. If not the whole week at least the three days leading up to the race. I eat more carbs, but not a crazy amount. I always have a carb heavy dinner the night before the race.

As far as running goes, I only run three times the week before a marathon. A 3-4 mile run on Tuesday and Wednesday and then a 2 mile shake out run on Saturday. Thursday and Friday are complete rest days. The training is done, so it’s important to give your legs a rest. This is hard for me. I definitely get the “taper crazies”, but I refrain from running any more than scheduled!

And of course during this week I will feel phantom injuries, convince myself I’m getting sick, and question why I ever do this to myself in the first place. Don’t let me fool you, I get nervous. I have that butterfly feeling all week and I hardly sleep the night before the race, but I try to remind myself that I have done the hard work and the race is really just the celebration of my training.

How cool is it to run a marathon? That’s what I tell myself at least.

Officially 5 days away from rockin’ my third full marathon! Eek!

“Marathons are extraordinarily difficult, but if you’ve got the training under your belt, and if you can run smart, the races take care of themselves. When you have the enthusiasm and the passion, you end up figuring how to excel.” – Deena Kastor