14 Miles on the Calendar and I'm feeling a little nervous

I don't know what's going on in my head right now.  But, this past week, I have been feeling a little nervous before some of my workouts.  (Marathon freak outs don't happen this far out right?)

I'm worried that the run will feel hard, or that I won't be able to finish the distance, or hit expected paces. blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.   I guess it's a good thing that I'm feeling this way,  because that means I give a shit about this upcoming marathon.

Training Updates

 I didn't do any two a day workouts this week, however I used some flex time at work, to knock out some longer morning runs


Monday:  Circuit Training
Tuesday: 4 miles outside at lunchtime. The pace felt easy, except for the sun trying to fry me. C'mon fall! I ran 4 miles @ 8:54 average pace.

Wednesday: 7 Miles  1 mile warm up followed by 5 miles at Goal Marathon Pace and a one mile cool down.  Here's the data.

I ran the 5 tempo miles around the loop course
that will be used for the Deja Vu marathon.
Practice makes perfect.

I felt pretty dehydrated when I first got started. I started sucking down water almost immediately and then my stomach cramped up a little during the first mile. But, after the second mile I found my rhythm and I started cranking up the pace. I stopped my watch briefly twice. The first time during the first mile to top off my frozen water bottle, and the 2nd time to shove my phone into my waist pack. I think I'm going to have to find a different waist pack, It's hard to shove things in there using only one hand. I didn't have this problem with my last waist pack .

We are going to have to do something about you.

Thursday:  4 miles. This was an easy run.  I averaged 8:58 per mile, I also did a few strength training exercises (Flat Bench Press with bar, back rows with bar, single leg squats, hamstring dead lifts, back flys, and Roman Chair Leg lifts.)

Friday:  7.6 Miles.  This run ended up being a bit hillier than I had planned on running.  I chose the Pittman Wash Trail to avoid traffic, and I ended up being spooked by three different cyclists.  I'm so used to running against traffic to see the oncoming cars, that it feels strange to go with the flow of traffic.  I felt a bit tired and sluggish during this run.
I don't know if I'm still tired from my tempo run on Wed. or if I'm just trying to conserve some energy for my 14 miler this weekend. My plan is to knock it out in the morning and be done, but if I'm really tired/sore later on today. I might push it back until Sunday.

I know that it will be most beneficial to knock out my long run tomorrow, to build my endurance base.  My goal is to increase my volume, Sure it would be nice to take a rest day tomorrow and be fresh for a long run on Sunday.  But, I want to get used to running on tired/fatigued legs.

Well that's all I've got for now.  Hope you guys have a nice long weekend.  And thanks for reading.