To be honest.. I'm nervous about the Philadelphia Marathon. What did we sign ourselves up for?! AGAIN!?
Some thoughts before training gets into full swing...
"You have to forget your last marathon before you try another. Your mind can't know what's coming." -- Frank Shorter, 1972 Olympic marathon gold medalist
I have almost forgotten about the Newport marathon. I find that it's very hard to forget certain aspects of training and running a marathon. Mainly the mind games that you have to play to get to where you want to be. A few out of probably a dozen or so words come to mind when I think of how to describe the sort of themes of the mind games. Dedication, courage, determination, etc... I'm not even mentioning the insane physical aspects of it all. What type of "mind game" will it take to convince myself that it's perfectly okay to run another marathon a little over a year later than my first one?? I stopped running for maybe a month or two after the marathon because I was so burnt out (also because my ankle got ridiculously swollen for a while after the marathon). I will really have to trick my mind into thinking that this is normal.
Meanwhile so many of my non-runner friends and family think I'm insane for wanting to run another marathon. They clearly don't get it :-) I'm not just doing this for "fun", or to stay in shape (although that is a certain bonus). It's also about my forever battle with myself to do better than the time before (which can apply to much more than just running). It is the goals that I make for myself that help keep me motivated. This marathon will not be about just finishing it (like my first one). But finishing with a better time than 4h43m. I know I can run a marathon. Been there, done that. But can I run it just a little bit faster?? We shall see...
My training this time around will incorporate more cross-training like biking and swimming (another goal is to do a triathlon by the end of the summer). I would also like to focus more on the pre- and post-run workouts like strength training (lifting 5-10 lb weights because my arms are so weak), yoga, and stretching. The "diet" usually comes along with the exercising. I tend to eat a lot better when I am training for something. I just feel so much slower when I eat crappy food.
To help get me back into the habit of running, I found a pre-training schedule. I tweaked it a little bit to fit my schedule a little better but here it is:
Mon (06/18)-
Mon (06/25)- off (kayaking), Tues- 4M, Wed- 5M, Thurs- 4M, Fri- off, Sat- 4M, Sun 7M
Hopefully this will help get me into a routine. So far so good.. I ran 3.2 miles today after work (crossed off above list). Yippee! Like Tang, I too have hit somewhat of a wall. I keep trying to climb up it but then somehow I slide back down. The last few weeks have been low mileage. Last week I think I only ran a total of about 10 miles total. I did run a 29:29 5K on the treadmill.. not my best but I'll take it. On Friday I rode 25 miles on the bike at the East Bay Bikepath.. what does that equal in running time/distance??? Who knows and who really cares...
What I do know is that within the next two weeks I need to somehow rediscover that ambition and motivation to get my ass out the door and RUN!
