Saturday, August 8, 2009

Calculated Risks

The biggest lesson I have used in training for this marathon from previous training is knowing and understanding how a run should feel, specifically the long run. The long run is by far the most important piece of marathon training. You aren't going to finish 26.2 without putting in the miles during the training. It is also the most daunting for me. It means I'm going to be out on the roads for hours and to be honest feel like crap for several hours afterwards. I never really look forward to them and always get anxious about how I'll do.

This week we were facing 16 and given how awful 15 felt last week I was feeling the pressure. There was much discussion about when to get it in as the Falmouth Road Race is tomorrow. We decided on Friday night. It was going to be a 4 mile loop with planned hydration stops at the end of every loop. We weren't even a mile in before I realized that I was too tight, it didn't feel right. We stopped and stretched but the rest of the loop didn't get any better. Two options presented themselves, either do another loop to see how things felt or try it again tomorrow. I know at this point that if I'm hurting this early on there is no point in limping through if it can be avoided. But there is also no guarantee that things will feel better the following day. Luckily things worked out and today felt MUCH better. Within the first few steps this morning I knew we had made the right decision. It was by far the strongest long run we have had over the last year, I'm feeling like the training is finally paying off. Even several miles in I was surprised that things were going well. We met our running club around mile 12 and fully expected to be dead, but still had some pep in my step. Tomorrow is going to hurt like hell, but I'll deal with that later for now I'm going to bask in the glow of a strong run and the pay off of putting the run off a day :)

Days till NYC: 84
Miles trained today: 16

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