Ergh.

[shubbe]

As I mentioned, we were supposed to run 21 miles this last weekend, and I only got up to 17. As such, Coach Tracy really wants anyone who didn't run over 20 yet to run 20 this coming weekend. I'm already signed up to run the 3M half marathon this weekend. We're doing a group warmup of 2 miles (so everyone else is doing 15 total). I told her that if

Comments

[traininglog]

Oh gosh, here I go, opening my big mouth again.

There's nothing magical about 20 miles. Do as long a warm-up as you can manage w/o a bunch of inconvenience, feel guilty for three minutes and then try not to worry about it any more.

That's my 2 cents anyway.

[shubbe]

Yeah. That's kinda my plan. I'm just nervous about not having done everything Perfectly. There's lots of people I've been training with who have stuck to the schedule and presumably feel as good as it's possible to feel about nearly doing their first marathon. I feel.. behind. And undertrained.

I dunno if you remember you first marathon, but mine, at least, is fraught with anxiety. :)

I always appreciate your feedback.

[traininglog]

Mine was fraught with ANXIETY, not anxiety :)

I know you feel undertrained. Try not to fret about it too much, because that's just energy that you're wasting. Instead, tell yourself how much fresher you'll be than if you were over-trained!

[mizmizuno]

What traininglog said.

and if that's not good enough, do your long run Texas Iron-style, instead.

Since running for longer than 3 hours at a time starts making it more likely that you'll hurt yourself rather than help, just do a warm up and the race. Then later that evening IF you feel up to it and IF you still feel guilty, do a short PM run. 20-40 minutes.

There, end of guilt.

[ginsnap]

When M. Lovato was coaching me for IM, he always said that being undertrained was so, so , SO much better than being overtrained. And from personal experience, I believe him. (besides, how could anybody that cute be wrong?) teehee

Seriously though, I think it is good to listen to your coach. But I also think it is good to remember that there is nothing magical about one style of training for a marathon over another. There are many philosophies. My first marathon was with Austin Fit a number of years ago and at that time we got up to 18 miles for our longest run. When I trained with Mac, he was into running OVER 26 (like up to 30) to train.
That's my 3 cents!

ps

[ginsnap]

If traininglog and I sound like mother hens, you must forgive us. We just want you to have the confidence to know you will a great experience, a lot of fun, and success!

Re: ps

[shubbe]

I probably post all this stuff as a subconcious plea for validation from you guys, anyway. :) So thanks for validating me!

And thanks for helping me muddle through all the emotional and physical stuff leading up to this event I swear I said last year I had no interest in doing!

[tripam]

Ugh! Running 7 miles before 7am sounds icky. I did just do a gmap pedometer thingy and figured out it would be approximately 6 miles from my house to the Gateway shopping center. But running on 360 by myself in the dark doesn't sound like such a bright idea.

What if we take detours during 3M? Out and back every other mile? The course is open for enough hours to accomodate walkers. It just wouldn't be an accurate half marathon time.

Assuming I'm running...

[shubbe]

Assuming you're running, are you really supposed to do 20? I know you've been doing alternative cardio, but that seems like a big .. well, not exactly a jump, since the LAST run you did was 20, but.. that's a long time between 20s with no running.

I think I want my somewhat valid 3M time, even if it sucks. I want it to suck for being 13.1 miles. I'm leaning strongly toward running to the start line. I think it has the least number of things which alienate me from running 20 on Sunday. It's not 7 miles to Gateway, but if I can leave early enough, I could stretch out the run to 5 miles, then do the 2 warmup with everyone else. You could leave even earlier and park at my house and run with me.

Assuming you're running...

[sbear]

"It will take me nearly an hour and a half to run 7 miles, in all likelihood."

This statement just got me thinking.. 1.5 hrs to run 7 miles, so about 3 hours to run the other 13 miles.. which is 4.5 hours of RUNNING.. and I found it rather unbearable to SIT through 3.25 hours of King Kong.

Gosh, that must feel like a lot of hours of running. What drives you and where do I get some?

[shubbe]

I.. honestly don't know! I remember being so self-awed the first time I ran for more than an hour. I'm not sure how I got to where I can run for 4 hours. It helps a LOT to have other people there.. when you're talking, you don't notice how much time is passing. Plus, after a while you just zone out.

Think of it this way.. some people can't even grasp swimming for more than like 5 minutes, and that's with lots of breaks. Whereas you can swim without really realizing you're making an effort. After a while you just zone out and the motion continues on its own.

Though the concept of swimming for more than an hour is still foreign to me. I briefly considered swimming the 5k open water swim thing this Spring, but.. that may be more than I want to tackle at this point. If I do, though, you're so gonna do it with me. We can chat while we swim!