Tuesday workout: rest Wednesday workout: 6 miles, 12:00 average, treadmill, socks I ran before work this morning, which is highly unusual. I despise waking up even a second earlier than I have to, but I figure that if I'm running all three days before my marathon, it makes sense to run earlier as opposed to later (so I don't end up doing my last run only 15 hours before the race). It wasn't the worst thing I've ever done, but it certainly wasn't the best.
The legs are feeling pretty good right now. I didn't experience any fatigue during my run, although I don't have a lot of pep yet either. I do think I'll be in perfect shape come Saturday.
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Here it is, my first vlog!!! A video of my moose friend and her new bff, the sprinkler.
Embedding a video is surprisingly easy, although it's preventing me from formatting the rest of the post. The horror!!! You'll have to deal with un-justified text for today.
Okay, it's not really a vlog, as Professor Amy pointed out. But whatever, it's a video on a blog. I was going to post one with my uproarious commentary*, but I decided not to subject you to my loud, obnoxious voice. You're welcome.
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I think I'm still somewhat in denial about the fact that I'm running a marathon on Saturday. So far, there's been no panic, no (more than usual) sleepless nights, no restlessness. Whenever I think about the race, the first thought that pops into my head is, "Huh. How 'bout that?"
This somewhat indifferent attitude towards racing isn't a new thing. In fact, I haven't really experienced much nerves or excitement since my second half marathon. I honestly have no idea what changed. One day, I just decided it all wasn't that big of a deal.
This attitude works both in my favor and against me. On the one hand, it certainly makes race day more pleasant, and I think we can all agree that we shouldn't beat ourselves up over missed goals. But on the other hand, it also means I tend to lack that extra motivation to push myself. I've gone into a few races with pretty lofty goals and, despite having put a lot of effort into training for and ultimately falling short of these goals, haven't been all that upset about it. And honestly, I think that knowing I wouldn't be that upset about it had something to do with failing in the first place.
I'm not trying to say I'm going to fail on Saturday [side note: I'm pretty sure coach Holly's shaking her head pretty aggressively at me right now]. In fact, I think I'll do quite well-the Hansons definitely helped strengthen my mental game by forcing me to run farther when I really didn't think I could. I just worry that I won't give it everything I'm capable of.
Things may be different this time around because it's my first marathon. Multiple viewings of Spirit of the Marathon may also help. Any other tips?
This isn't your typical pre-race pump-up post, is it? Huh. Well, if you want to take away a deep and meaningful message from it, I guess I'd conclude that to me, the journey is more important than the marathon itself.
* and by uproarious commentary I mean squeals of joy followed by screams of terror as the moose appears to move towards me.
Questions:
Do you freak out about racing, or are you more relaxed about it?
Do you beat yourself up if you don't reach your goals?
Any good running movie suggestions? Anything but Chariots of Fire, that is. That movie did NOT do it for me.
So David just watched the video and said "that video might go viral" but then he googled "moose sprinkler" and found a lot of them. So sorry for raising and then crushing your hopes in one sentence for hitting it big in the you tube world. I think our racing attitudes are pretty similar, though I do get nervous the morning of races and I hate it. I also have a terrible habit halfway through a race if I am not feeling it of just succumbing to whatever thoughts I have and then allow the just finish race mentality to take over. I still do fairly well and I am sure you will, too. JUST REMEMBER NOT TO GO OUT TOO FAST! At the halfway point of my first marathon (where I had no idea what a pace was) I was like cool-I did that in 2 hours. My hopes of a 4 hour marathon then about died by mile 15 and my second half was 2:23. But I had never trained with pace and I just ran by feel. I did just about everything wrong ever for my first marathon, but it was still awesome.
No!! Way to crush my dreams, David. But I guess that and the fact that the video is unlisted are both probably working against me.
I WILL TRY NOT TO GO OUT TOO FAST! That's my biggest goal. I've been really good about it my last two races, but I also wasn't trying to race those. Funny how that happens.
Hahaha! Oh, Jeano... This was not so different from me in high school swimming. I loved swimming. Looooooved. But I hated stepping up on to the blocks for a head-to-head competition. I didn't mind racing myself, but I really didn't like the idea of wanting to decimate my opponents. My Dad (not an inherently competitive person himself) tried to help me see that, by undermining myself like this, I was setting myself up for less-than-my-best performance.
I'm not sure why I'm telling you this story. You can run whatever race you want. If you want to give yourself an excuse before you leave the Starting Line, that is actually OK - as you say, the journey is often more important. This was definitely the case for me in high school. I didn't really want to change.
But if you want a chance at your BEST, then write down your "It's OK if I don't hit X goal because"s, then seal them away in an envelop before Saturday. After your race, if the result isn't your "A" goal, then you can open them up again and use them. But if you want a shot at running the very best race you can, you'll need confidence (which you already have) and "ganas" (which is a Spanish word for which there is no really good English translation - "deep desire/earning/passion for" is the best I can do).
Ultimately, the choice is yours. Believe it or not, I'm not judging. You must run the race that you want to run this weekend. But don't let fear or apathy determine what that race is - at least take the effort to make a conscious decision about the race you want. Then, do what you have to do to make that happen.
There it is! I am very familiar with the whole tener ganas idea. I'm HOPING that once I hit the starting line, I'll suddenly have that burning competitive desire. We'll see. But I like your idea of "sealing other goals in an envelop." Thanks, Holly!
Ummm....that's a *little* bit like not training, then hitting the starting line HOPING you'll be able to bang out a 4 hour marathon. Train the brain, girl!!
Like I said, you choose your goal. Just CHOOSE one, rather than waiting around for....something (?) to choose for you....? You've worked too long and hard to leave this up to fate/your mood/the Starting Line. Make a choice!!!!
Yes and yes and yes. I beat myself up about relaxing. I beat myself up when I don't reach my goals. I'm dumb and have shed tears about running poorly. The nice thing about running is that if you have a bad one you just get a redo.
I HATE afternoon running. It's 4 am here in Texas and in getting ready to work out. I would rather have the afternoons free than have to workout. And it's hotter than the face of the sub in the afternoons here too.
I definitely prefer the TEMPERATURES I get in the morning, but the sleep thing trumps all else. The only time I've ever been a morning runner was when I ran to work as my commute when I lived in New York (it was 5 miles), and that was only because it was actually faster to run than to take the subway (I'm not even kidding-one of the many reasons New York sucks). I loved having my evenings free but again, the sleep thing! Maybe someday...
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So David just watched the video and said "that video might go viral" but then he googled "moose sprinkler" and found a lot of them. So sorry for raising and then crushing your hopes in one sentence for hitting it big in the you tube world.
ReplyDeleteI think our racing attitudes are pretty similar, though I do get nervous the morning of races and I hate it. I also have a terrible habit halfway through a race if I am not feeling it of just succumbing to whatever thoughts I have and then allow the just finish race mentality to take over. I still do fairly well and I am sure you will, too.
JUST REMEMBER NOT TO GO OUT TOO FAST! At the halfway point of my first marathon (where I had no idea what a pace was) I was like cool-I did that in 2 hours. My hopes of a 4 hour marathon then about died by mile 15 and my second half was 2:23. But I had never trained with pace and I just ran by feel. I did just about everything wrong ever for my first marathon, but it was still awesome.
No!! Way to crush my dreams, David. But I guess that and the fact that the video is unlisted are both probably working against me.
DeleteI WILL TRY NOT TO GO OUT TOO FAST! That's my biggest goal. I've been really good about it my last two races, but I also wasn't trying to race those. Funny how that happens.
Hahaha! Oh, Jeano...
ReplyDeleteThis was not so different from me in high school swimming. I loved swimming. Looooooved. But I hated stepping up on to the blocks for a head-to-head competition. I didn't mind racing myself, but I really didn't like the idea of wanting to decimate my opponents. My Dad (not an inherently competitive person himself) tried to help me see that, by undermining myself like this, I was setting myself up for less-than-my-best performance.
I'm not sure why I'm telling you this story. You can run whatever race you want. If you want to give yourself an excuse before you leave the Starting Line, that is actually OK - as you say, the journey is often more important. This was definitely the case for me in high school. I didn't really want to change.
But if you want a chance at your BEST, then write down your "It's OK if I don't hit X goal because"s, then seal them away in an envelop before Saturday. After your race, if the result isn't your "A" goal, then you can open them up again and use them. But if you want a shot at running the very best race you can, you'll need confidence (which you already have) and "ganas" (which is a Spanish word for which there is no really good English translation - "deep desire/earning/passion for" is the best I can do).
Ultimately, the choice is yours. Believe it or not, I'm not judging. You must run the race that you want to run this weekend. But don't let fear or apathy determine what that race is - at least take the effort to make a conscious decision about the race you want. Then, do what you have to do to make that happen.
There it is! I am very familiar with the whole tener ganas idea. I'm HOPING that once I hit the starting line, I'll suddenly have that burning competitive desire. We'll see. But I like your idea of "sealing other goals in an envelop." Thanks, Holly!
DeleteUmmm....that's a *little* bit like not training, then hitting the starting line HOPING you'll be able to bang out a 4 hour marathon. Train the brain, girl!!
DeleteLike I said, you choose your goal. Just CHOOSE one, rather than waiting around for....something (?) to choose for you....? You've worked too long and hard to leave this up to fate/your mood/the Starting Line. Make a choice!!!!
Yes and yes and yes. I beat myself up about relaxing. I beat myself up when I don't reach my goals. I'm dumb and have shed tears about running poorly. The nice thing about running is that if you have a bad one you just get a redo.
ReplyDeleteI HATE afternoon running. It's 4 am here in Texas and in getting ready to work out. I would rather have the afternoons free than have to workout. And it's hotter than the face of the sub in the afternoons here too.
I definitely prefer the TEMPERATURES I get in the morning, but the sleep thing trumps all else. The only time I've ever been a morning runner was when I ran to work as my commute when I lived in New York (it was 5 miles), and that was only because it was actually faster to run than to take the subway (I'm not even kidding-one of the many reasons New York sucks). I loved having my evenings free but again, the sleep thing! Maybe someday...
Delete