Yes that's right folks. In exactly one month I will see the results of all the training I've done in preparation for this. I've always had great admiration for distance runners. When I was a little girl, I would watch the sumer olympic games and was just in awe of the speed, distance and finishing times these marathoners were able to accomplish. My first running experience was in elementary school. I remember coming in 3rd place out of the girls for the one mile run. When I was in high school I started to run around my neighborhood which was usually only 2 or 3 miles but I never joined the cross country team which I regret to this day because I feel I could have gained speed advantage and received great training advice to prepare me for longer distances and post high school races. "Why do I run?" and more often "why do I run THAT far?? is a question I get asked by a lot of people. My response? Because I CAN! And maybe because there's a little bit of crazy in there. :) There are things in life we have no control over. Illnesses, disease, natural disasters, death and hardships are a part of everyone's life. When I run I feel I have complete control over what my body can and can't do. When I run I feel a sense of freedom. I don't have that same control over every other function of my body. Running gives me a sense of accomplishment. Running gives me a sense of peace, serenity and a closeness to nature.
So here we are today. I am in the middle of a stepback week which means I'm giving my body a break in preparation for the final leg of training. Next week will be my hardest week and will include my final 20-22 miler. After that it's 3 weeks of taper time! It's a time for a mental break and a leg and a body refresher in hopes that my legs and body will be ready to tackle that great 26.2 on a beautiful course. I am also excited because I will be meeting a bunch of online running buddies that will be running that race as well together. (although they will be much closer to the front of the pack than me) :)
2 comments:
You're going to do great! You've trained so well and I can't wait to hear your race report. Any secret tips as you have increased your mileage? Thanks for your advice about my knee. I'm going to try and do what you did and hopefully I won't be out of the game too long. I'm definitely going to plan on Ogden next year, as long as I'm not pg. Thanks for your post. I love talking to other runners because most people who ask me about running think I'm completely nuts. ;)
I guess I'd say don't be afraid to take walk breaks during your long run as you're building mileage. Mentally you may not want to do it and that's ok as some people have the goal to be able to run the whole thing. And this is really weird but I would average faster paces at the same effort levels when I took walk breaks versus when I didn't. And I think the reason was due to muscle fatigue. I think it's because when I walked, my running muscles didn't get overused as I covered the distance. Because the only thing that slowed me down once I got into the 15+ miles was muscle fatigue, not heart and lung fatigue. So maybe you can time your paces using walk breaks one week and then the next week time your paces not using walk breaks to determine whether or not walking will make you faster and get your muscles more conditioned to the distance. It's really hard to tolerate ice baths during the first couple minutes, but I really recommend it so that you can be recovered during your other weekly quality runs. It doesn't need to be colder than 50 degrees so usually just cold tap water is fine without adding ice. Oh and don't feel bad if you need to take an extra day off or do less mileage during your stepback weeks. It's really important to let that week refresh you and get you ready for the next jump in training. I hope that helps you at all.
Post a Comment