Monday, March 12, 2012




Pre-race jitters have already hit big time.  I think they are worse than they were for my first marathon.  Back then I only had one goal - to finish.  I had a vague time goal of 4:45 but I felt good the whole race and finished in 4:38.  I never did any real training other than long runs -- other than that I just made sure I ran at a leisurely pace 2-3 more times per week.  That was pretty much my training plan for all the marathons I've done, although the two I crashed and burned on (Shamrock 2010 and Marine Corps 2011) I may have only gotten 1-2 other runs in per week... and not done any 20 mile training runs.... and maybe I was pregnant for one of them.

But this time around I've trained my tush off.  I started at 30 miles per week in December and built up to 60 right before the taper.  I actually did the 800 repeats every week, adding one each session for 2 months  I weight trained.  I cross trained.  I did my 20 and 22 mile training runs.  I want to do well on this race.

Weather report is not looking too promising.  After so many training runs in frigid winter temperatures I was hoping for a high of 55 or so. Forecast is saying 70-75.  Too hot, especially this early in March.  My is unacclimated body will hopefully do alright.

A marathon is scary if you've trained this hard for it.  Because if you bonk, you bonk.  And it's not like a 5K where you can just race again the next weekend.  Once this race is over, I've got to switch gears and really focus on the Ironman.  Which means I probably won't be doing another marathon until I've recovered from that event -- late late fall if not early winter.

1 comment:

  1. I find you do better in the races you are nervous about! you'll do great! Just follow your plan, start in easy and the rest will fall into place. Good luck, can't wait to hear all about it! You've had a great training cycle..

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