Marathon Training on the Road Starts Today

The day I threw down the gauntlet and signed us up for the Colorado Marathon, I didn’t really give any thought to marathon training on the road once we leave Fountain of Youth.

You’re just supposed to run, right? Get those miles in, train, then do the race. That’s what normal people do when they live the stationary life. But for those of us who aren’t quite normal, those of us who move our homes on wheels all over the place, marathon training gets a little complicated.

A Plan for Marathon Training on the Road

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Big roads with fast drivers who don’t expect to see runners.

Soon after we committed to the May 5th event, I looked at our marathon training schedule in the Nike Run Club app. Then reality hit. We need to keep up this training, even as we roll to Texas, then finally up to Colorado. Running will go on, even where the lack of road shoulder adds a bit of terror into the workout. And oh yeah, somehow we’ve got to squeeze in drive time, work and sleep.

But instead of letting this overwhelm me, I came up with an itinerary and training plan. Here’s how I hope it will work:

Wednesday March 6 – Thursday March 7: Yuma, Arizona. Total drive time: 1:49.

As soon as we leave FoY, we’re moseying across the Mexican border and into the Algodones medical district for two teeth cleanings — an all new experience for us. Almost every RV snowbird we know has done a day trip to Mexico for dental work, with few complaints. A few weeks ago when I learned that cleanings are just $30, I figured we didn’t have anything to lose. I’m hoping my talented brother-in-law dentist doesn’t disown us! 

As for our running, we’ll try to get our regularly scheduled 4-5 mile training runs in on these two days. The only obvious place we can run is somewhere near our preferred casino camping spot, the Quechan Casino. Possibly even the freeway frontage road.

Friday March 8: Willcox, Arizona. Total drive time: 4:40.

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There’s no telling where we can run in Willcox Arizona.

Located near Arizona’s most mysterious attraction, The Thing, Willcox is just a small whistlestop town off the interstate with a population of about 3700 people. In looking at my favorite Footpath Route Planner app I can see that we might be able to get a couple of good 5-8 miles runs around town. 

Saturday March 9: Van Horn, Texas. Total drive time: 5:13.

On the lonely stretch of Interstate 10 between El Paso and San Antonio you’ll find the rural town of Van Horn. Google maps shows plenty of town roads to get in mileage. Squeezing our longest runs in (17.5 miles) shouldn’t be a problem, even if we have to do it on the local high school track. Since Van Horn Passport America Parks are a steal, we’ll probably spring for full-hookups. There’s nothing like a long hot shower after putting in heavy miles.

Sunday March 10: Kerrville, Texas for 14 nights. Total drive time: 5:09.

It’s been a few years since we had any kind of physical exams and medical check-ups, so Texas here we come. It’s the only state where we can use our mediocre health insurance, and we want to get a clean bill of health before marathon day. We’re booked for 14 nights at Kerrville Schreiner Park, a sweet little spot on the Guadalupe River, in a town with lots of running potential.

The last time we were in Kerrville our RV park got evacuated because of a flash flood. I can’t say I’m excited about staying at another riverfront campground, but it was the only spot I could find.

marathon training on the road,full-time RVing,RVer,RVlife,exercise,running
We may need to train by running laps around these small towns.

So far, I’ve only planned our marathon training on the road to Kerrville. Once our stay wraps up there, fitting our training in shouldn’t be quite as complicated as we slowly meander on up to Colorado to get re-acclimated to high altitude running. The biggest problem will be finding safe roads with wide shoulders along the way.

If you spot two idiots in Lycra running down the highway, please cheer us on!

 

7 thoughts on “Marathon Training on the Road Starts Today”

  1. I had a bad experience with a root canal and crown in Algodones but I think I was the lucky exception.
    Sounds like you have the training on the road figured out so you will do well in the marathon. I know you’ll be ready!

    Reply
    • Yikes I’m sorry about your experience Patti, that’s terrible. Well, we did manage to get to Algodones today for cleanings, stay tuned for feedback on our experience.

      Meanwhile our training situation seems A-OK for the first two nights, I’ll let you know how it goes. Thanks for believing in us!

      Reply
  2. If you want to save some money on already inexpensive Mexican dental care try San Luis, Mex (short drive from Yuma) instead of Algodones. Much less crowded and tourist oriented. No buses of tourists here. I visited Dr Bernal and this due to an article from a fellow blogger Emily Fagan of “Roads Less Traveled” It’s on the main street about 2 blocks in from border. Good luck with this and your training. If things start to get “stressy” as the race approaches remember you can always claim pulled hamstring with no shame!

    Reply
  3. Looking forward to reading about your Algodones dental experience, including who you go to. Kathy and I are heading into AZ after our FOY stay (sorry we couldn’t connect last night) and we also want to get our teeth cleaned and checked in Algodones. Glad you’ll be our guinea pigs!

    Reply
  4. Here’s a thought:
    You get out of the truck, and start running, while Jim drives the next 10 miles, he pulls over, parks and gets out and he starts running, you run to the truck, hop in and drive 10 miles, park and wait for Jim. You will have driven 20 miles and both got a run in at the same time. The truck may smell like a locker room and Wyatt may avoid you, but what the hell.
    Just kidding. You’ll figure it out,
    We used to have our dental work done in Palomas, just south of Deming. We’ve had cleanings, fillings and crowns done there all good, even when exam by American dentists years later.
    Travel Safe

    Reply
    • Bhahaha! What a great idea Larry! I’ll have to keep that in mind 😉

      Thanks for the feedback on Mexican dentistry. I’m so glad it worked out for you two. I’ll keep ya posted.

      Reply

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