The marathon came about when I got a call from my sponsor, OtterBox, and they asked if I had any ‘extra curricular’ activities planned before seasons end. They knew I was a CrossFit junkie and proposed the marathon idea to me. I, of course, said yes, why not, but I didn’t realize what I was getting myself into.
I committed, and have been training for three weeks now. I started training on Aug. 12 and my longest run before that day was only seven miles. I have a goal in mind for the time I want to finish the race in, and said alright if I am going to do it, I am going to do it the right way. I am not going to walk for 26.2 miles. Normally in CrossFit I would only run one mile or a mile and a half at most.
At the beginning running felt great, three miles here and three miles there. Then it started to get into the 10-mile runs and it hasn’t been easy. Some of my rest days are my race days, so that isn’t really a rest day for me. The first week was hard to keep up with CrossFit and running. The second week, I was feeling very weak, and this week I am getting a good balance between CrossFit and running.
I have changed my diet and increased my calorie intake to make sure that I am giving my body enough nutrients to run for more than an hour. This was not easy for me. I was used to only eating one carbohydrate a day and it was white rice, no bread or pasta. Now, I am giving myself more carbs for fuel and energy to run for long periods of time. I also noticed that my body needed not just water to refuel on long runs, but more electrolytes. I used to only take water, but I am changing that now too.
I’ve lost a little bit of weight and lost some upper body muscles. Thursday will be my very first half-marathon (running 13.1 miles) and my plan is to complete it in an hour and 45 minutes. Hopefully everything goes well. I will let you know how it went in our next blog.
I know I’ve said it before, but I didn’t think it would be this challenging. Now that I am a few weeks into training, the next month is not going to be easy. Hopefully through November the training will get easier as we approach the actual race day (November 17). I don’t feel nervous about it; I just want to be as prepared as possible and run well. It takes more than 14 weeks to get prepared for a marathon which means we have to train quickly and train hard. With my racing schedule, it’s hard to keep up.
I’m happy that I am noticing and learning what my body needs during this process. Nutrition and how I am feeling are really important. Rest is important. That’s why I want to get as prepared as possible for the marathon so that I feel good going into it. Hopefully I can run fast for the last couple of miles and feel fresh when I am finished.
I hope you all have a great few weeks. We are off to Iowa Speedway this weekend where we had a really fast Tundra and where I got my first career pole. Then we are off to Chicagoland where we are looking forward to a great weekend with my NET10 Wireless sponsor.
Fuente: NASCAR.com
Contenido generado, publicado y difundido por el departamento de prensa del piloto de la NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, Germán Quiroga.
Contacto prensa: Martín Caño.
Email: prensa@germanquiroga.com
Contacto prensa: Martín Caño.
Email: prensa@germanquiroga.com
