Anietra Hamper, WBNS-TV

As the weeks pass- and my running performance improves- my challenges change. I am at 14 miles for my last increase and I will tackle 16 next weekend. At this stage, good nutrition is even more critical throughout the week. I am slowly letting go of the things that tempt my sweet tooth and trading in ‘quick’ meals for ‘quality’ meals. I have a lot of nutrition questions that I hope to get answered as I struggle on some long runs with feeling very sick AFTER completing those runs. I am also trying to add in more quality carbs into my diet which is typically void of excess carbs. This is an adjustment.

As an ambitious perfectionist my other training challenge is trying to see the light at the end of the tunnel from the beginning of the track. I have been feverishly increasing my miles. All of the training schedules have ‘long run’ days that scale back throughout training. It takes a lot of effort for me to do that as I am eager to reach a goal that seems so distant at this point. I DID scale back this weekend to 12 miles. What I discovered is that same 12 miles I really struggled with several weekends ago was not as much of a struggle this time. In fact, I ended my run feeling tired but not sore or exhausted the way I had the first time and even the second time I ran 12 miles. This tells me that I am getting stronger, building endurance and making strides—literally.

At this stage of training I realize that rest is as important as running. I am seeing how training, nutrition and rest converge to enable your body to perform at an increased level. So, in addition to tweeking my eating habits (yes, I still allow for the occasional chocolate treat or ice cream) and increasing my total weekly mileage, I really pay attention to my sleep. Since I go to bed around 7pm for my work schedule it leaves little opportunity to go to bed ‘early’. So, I aim to go to bed ‘on-time’ and try to get good rest on the weekends.

I remain motivated. I focus on crossing that finish line. I ask lots of questions and seek out lots of resources. The support from the experts of the Columbus Marathon and from other runners is a tremendous help.