It's official, in less than 2 weeks I will have completed my 5th marathon. Right now, I have mixed emotions about how this one is going to go. My goal is to finally break the big 4 hour barrier (well, it's big to ME). While most of my training would lead me to believe it's going to happen, you never know what race day will bring. In addition to that, my legs have been unbelievably uncooperative the last several weeks.
Basically, this is the conversation lately between me and my legs:
Me: "Hey Legs, let's go for a run, ok?"
Legs: "Ya know, we're just not feeling it today, can we skip?"
Me: "No, we don't skip, we stick to the plan!"
Legs: "Yah, you and your plan are kind of annoying us right now. We'd rather go home, lay on the couch, and have some Cadbury Eggs."
Me: "Well, that's too bad, because we're going on a run whether you like it or not! We can eat Cadbury Eggs afterward!"
Legs: "Fine, we can go for a run, but we're not going to promise it will go well."
My legs have not been lying. Every run lately, no matter how short or long, has been a chore. I miss the runs where I just enjoy it and when I'm done I wonder, "Oh, it's over?" I am finding 4 mile runs to feel a lot like 15 mile runs...ugh!
I ran my last 12 this past Saturday, and while technically it was still just below (barely) my marathon goal pace, I know I can run much faster than that. This obviously concerns me with the marathon only days away.
Everyone says, "You're just tired, the taper is going to help, you'll be fine!" Well, I'm not quite there yet. I don't want to put undue pressure on myself, but I just really want to meet this goal!
I need to focus on getting my sleep in the next few weeks and on getting my mental attitude on the positive. Maybe then my legs will be back on board!
I can't blame them though, I mean, they're probably just thinking about my upcoming vacation to the Bahamas/Florida in the next 5 weeks, where eating and laying around will be the primary activities.
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3 comments:
Come on legs! Get in the game! We just saw our first Cadbury Egg commercial. . .they are just around the corner!
Seriously, did you write this or did I? I am having the same issues with my 5 mile runs. Those are supposed to be the easy ones, right? So how come I have NO MOTIVATION to do them?!
I am no coach but if you are having trouble with 4 mile runs then your legs DO need a break? One of the things that I have learned in my little bit of experience is that if your feeling really good, then go ahead and do more than the plan, whether it be speed or distance and if your not, then cut it back some. Granted sometimes I wonder and am not sure if it's "me" being lazy or if it's the need for a true break. So I go out and find out. Today I ran an easy 9 miles @ 9 mile pace after running a hard 18 miles on Sunday. It was hard because the wind was so gusty and I barely finished in my base pace goal at 9:43 (would prefer 9:15 on long runs). I wondered if my legs needed a break but they did great! 2 weeks ago after a 16 mile run, not so much. I took my usual Monday off and Tuesday as well. It's been going great since.
My advice (as unqualified as I am to give it) is to only run your key runs for a week (the interval, the tempo and long) and then see how you feel the next week.
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