{"id":2741,"date":"2013-02-04T09:00:51","date_gmt":"2013-02-04T16:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/?p=2741"},"modified":"2013-02-04T09:46:02","modified_gmt":"2013-02-04T16:46:02","slug":"4-weeks-until-the-napa-marathon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/4-weeks-until-the-napa-marathon\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Weeks Until the Napa Marathon"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welp, I can honestly say I have never had a more discouraging week of training. Ever.<\/p>\n

After having multiple really good training weeks (see here<\/a> and here<\/a>), this week came as a surprise. I thought, following a rest week, I would have a great week for both a lot of miles and a lot of speed. Instead, I could barely muster any miles, and they were anything but speedy.<\/p>\n

I did my scheduled run Monday at a 8:40 average pace - right on target. I threw in some hills for good measure, so the run overall felt harder than usual... but I just blamed it on the hills. When Wednesday came, time to do my tempo run, I couldn't even get myself out the door. My body was tired. My brain was tired. It just wasn't gonna happen. Thursday came too quickly, and I spent half of the day trying to convince myself to get out the door, then being paralyzed with guilt because I knew I didn't want to, but HAD to.<\/p>\n

I headed out after telling myself I didn't have to do the tempo part, just get the miles in. After 3.5 slow miles, I knew nothing good was going to happen. I walked\/jogged home, totally 4.5 miles running and .5 miles walking... and really started to worry. What in the world was\/is wrong with me? Why can't I just DO IT? I am learning more about paying attention to my body and knowing when I can push through any fatigue: this was not one of those times. I knew I really shouldn't keep going.<\/p>\n

Saturday came, 20 miles on the docket, and I again had the \"I know I have to do this\" feeling. I made a plan, hoping to feel great after a semi-restful week, and wanted to do a fast finish - at least the last 8 miles at race pace. Faster if I felt up to it. In reality, I struggled from mile 1. I ran a route I can usually keep a 8:50 pace with ease for the 8 miles out - which is slightly uphill. I was struggling to run 9:15 pace, and honestly had a few almost-10-minute miles. I considered quitting after 8, calling Derek and having him come pick me up. It was not a pretty scene, and I had to do a LOT of mental yelling\/persuading to get myself to keep running.<\/p>\n

Long story short, I did all 20 miles, averaging 9:19 pace overall. Much slower than the 8:30 I usually average on fast-finish long runs. It's pretty discouraging, especially as we're nearing the marathon. I've had two easy week, I should be rested: I should be able to run these miles no problem. Instead, I found myself walking multiple times, cursing my aching feet, and feeling the burn like never before.<\/p>\n

We've decided that this week (and the rest of my training) will be less about mileage, since I've proven to have a stable aerobic base, and more about speed. That, and super-star resting. I need to be eating like a champ, which is something I often struggle with - despite the abundance of good food in the house. I was also having a rough week personally last week; I anticipate this week being much brighter and cheerier - hopefully to be reflected in my running. This week will look like this:<\/p>\n

\"Screen<\/p>\n

That's 14 miles less than what was scheduled, and a lot more race pace running. I am a bit nervous about not having another LONG long (read: 20 mile) run before the race, but I'm also sure my legs know how to do it. I think.<\/p>\n

Hopefully my legs will re-gain their gusto in these four weeks before the race. I have been feeling so confident, especially after three weeks in a row of successful\/fast 18-mile runs. This week has definitely given a blow to my ego, and therefore my motivation. I need a break. I'm really wondering if I have any chance of meeting my goal now - I know I shouldn't give up this easily, but it kind of seems like a pipe dream now.<\/p>\n

Next week I'll try to have a not-so-downer post for you - I'm gonna try to get these legs back in line!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Welp, I can honestly say I have never had a more discouraging week of training. Ever. After having multiple really good training weeks (see here and here), this week came as a surprise. I thought, following a rest week, I would have a great week for both a lot of miles and a lot of...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[351,349,352],"holidays":[],"class_list":["post-2741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports","tag-napa-valley-marathon","tag-running","tag-training"],"yoast_head":"\n4 Weeks Until the Napa Marathon - The Kitchen Paper<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"4 Weeks Until the Napa Marathon Recipe\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/4-weeks-until-the-napa-marathon\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"4 Weeks Until the Napa Marathon - The Kitchen Paper\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"4 Weeks Until the Napa Marathon Recipe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/4-weeks-until-the-napa-marathon\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Kitchen Paper\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/facebook.com\/thekitchenpaper\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/thekitchenpaper\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-02-04T16:00:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-02-04T16:46:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Screen-shot-2013-02-03-at-3.03.03-PM.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@thekitchenpaper\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@thekitchenpaper\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mary\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/4-weeks-until-the-napa-marathon\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/4-weeks-until-the-napa-marathon\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Mary\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/#\/schema\/person\/eacc04a461aaf5f1031a1ae24cb3c3a7\"},\"headline\":\"4 Weeks Until the Napa Marathon\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-02-04T16:00:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-02-04T16:46:02+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/4-weeks-until-the-napa-marathon\/\"},\"wordCount\":700,\"commentCount\":4,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/4-weeks-until-the-napa-marathon\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Screen-shot-2013-02-03-at-3.03.03-PM.png\",\"keywords\":[\"Napa Valley Marathon\",\"running\",\"training\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Sports\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/4-weeks-until-the-napa-marathon\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/4-weeks-until-the-napa-marathon\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/4-weeks-until-the-napa-marathon\/\",\"name\":\"4 Weeks Until the Napa Marathon - The Kitchen Paper\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/4-weeks-until-the-napa-marathon\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/4-weeks-until-the-napa-marathon\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Screen-shot-2013-02-03-at-3.03.03-PM.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-02-04T16:00:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-02-04T16:46:02+00:00\",\"description\":\"4 Weeks Until the Napa Marathon Recipe\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/4-weeks-until-the-napa-marathon\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/4-weeks-until-the-napa-marathon\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/4-weeks-until-the-napa-marathon\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Screen-shot-2013-02-03-at-3.03.03-PM.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Screen-shot-2013-02-03-at-3.03.03-PM.png\",\"width\":757,\"height\":129},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/4-weeks-until-the-napa-marathon\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Sports\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/category\/sports\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"4 Weeks Until the Napa Marathon\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/\",\"name\":\"The Kitchen Paper\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Kitchen Paper\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/the-kitchen-paper-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/the-kitchen-paper-logo.png\",\"width\":808,\"height\":160,\"caption\":\"The Kitchen Paper\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/facebook.com\/thekitchenpaper\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/thekitchenpaper\",\"http:\/\/instagram.com\/thekitchenpaper\",\"http:\/\/pinterest.com\/thekitchenpaper\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/#\/schema\/person\/eacc04a461aaf5f1031a1ae24cb3c3a7\",\"name\":\"Mary\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3620a153b2c74d7c75c91c7e99dc7186244818e7b41c7fb4f82b0b8273bb31a6?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3620a153b2c74d7c75c91c7e99dc7186244818e7b41c7fb4f82b0b8273bb31a6?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"Mary\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\",\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/thekitchenpaper\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/thekitchenpaper\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"4 Weeks Until the Napa Marathon - The Kitchen Paper","description":"4 Weeks Until the Napa Marathon Recipe","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/4-weeks-until-the-napa-marathon\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"4 Weeks Until the Napa Marathon - The Kitchen Paper","og_description":"4 Weeks Until the Napa Marathon Recipe","og_url":"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/4-weeks-until-the-napa-marathon\/","og_site_name":"The Kitchen Paper","article_publisher":"http:\/\/facebook.com\/thekitchenpaper","article_author":"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/thekitchenpaper","article_published_time":"2013-02-04T16:00:51+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-02-04T16:46:02+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Screen-shot-2013-02-03-at-3.03.03-PM.png","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Mary","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@thekitchenpaper","twitter_site":"@thekitchenpaper","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Mary","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/4-weeks-until-the-napa-marathon\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/4-weeks-until-the-napa-marathon\/"},"author":{"name":"Mary","@id":"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/#\/schema\/person\/eacc04a461aaf5f1031a1ae24cb3c3a7"},"headline":"4 Weeks Until the Napa Marathon","datePublished":"2013-02-04T16:00:51+00:00","dateModified":"2013-02-04T16:46:02+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/4-weeks-until-the-napa-marathon\/"},"wordCount":700,"commentCount":4,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/4-weeks-until-the-napa-marathon\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Screen-shot-2013-02-03-at-3.03.03-PM.png","keywords":["Napa Valley Marathon","running","training"],"articleSection":["Sports"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/4-weeks-until-the-napa-marathon\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/4-weeks-until-the-napa-marathon\/","url":"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/4-weeks-until-the-napa-marathon\/","name":"4 Weeks Until the Napa Marathon - The Kitchen Paper","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/4-weeks-until-the-napa-marathon\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/4-weeks-until-the-napa-marathon\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Screen-shot-2013-02-03-at-3.03.03-PM.png","datePublished":"2013-02-04T16:00:51+00:00","dateModified":"2013-02-04T16:46:02+00:00","description":"4 Weeks Until the Napa Marathon Recipe","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/4-weeks-until-the-napa-marathon\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/4-weeks-until-the-napa-marathon\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/4-weeks-until-the-napa-marathon\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Screen-shot-2013-02-03-at-3.03.03-PM.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Screen-shot-2013-02-03-at-3.03.03-PM.png","width":757,"height":129},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/4-weeks-until-the-napa-marathon\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Sports","item":"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/category\/sports\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"4 Weeks Until the Napa Marathon"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/","name":"The Kitchen Paper","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/#organization","name":"The Kitchen Paper","url":"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/the-kitchen-paper-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/the-kitchen-paper-logo.png","width":808,"height":160,"caption":"The Kitchen Paper"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/facebook.com\/thekitchenpaper","https:\/\/x.com\/thekitchenpaper","http:\/\/instagram.com\/thekitchenpaper","http:\/\/pinterest.com\/thekitchenpaper"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/#\/schema\/person\/eacc04a461aaf5f1031a1ae24cb3c3a7","name":"Mary","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3620a153b2c74d7c75c91c7e99dc7186244818e7b41c7fb4f82b0b8273bb31a6?s=96&d=mm&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3620a153b2c74d7c75c91c7e99dc7186244818e7b41c7fb4f82b0b8273bb31a6?s=96&d=mm&r=pg","caption":"Mary"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com","http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/thekitchenpaper","https:\/\/x.com\/thekitchenpaper"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2741"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2741\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2757,"href":"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2741\/revisions\/2757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2741"},{"taxonomy":"holidays","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thekitchenpaper.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/holidays?post=2741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}