Friday, October 11th- Less than two days! There is no two ways about it, taper sucks. You start to question everything. I flew into NY on Tuesday and for the first time the flights were rather uneventful. I met up with some ARE members to run Tuesday after I got in. Wednesday morning I went to mile 8 on the marathon course and did my last "workout". It didn't feel the greatest, but it wasn't terrible either (as it shouldn't be) considering it was very easy. I did a 2+ warm up, with 15 minutes at 6:30 pace, then a 2 mile cool down. Thursday I only ran 2.5 miles. Unfortunately I was planning on running more, but by the time I woke up and did what I needed to do I only had 20 minutes before I had to get in the shower and get moving. I always schedule way too much when I am home and end up running around from place to place instead of just relaxing. Anyway, I doubt the 2.5 miles verses 4 miles I wanted to do really makes a difference. Friday I took off even though my coach had me scheduled to run. I always take 2 days before a marathon off and I hadn't taken a day off in over a month. Although now I am scared I dropped too much this week because my legs feel heavy. 4 weeks ago I was coming off Palio Half Marathon so we kept the mileage low at 65 so I could recover. 3 weeks ago I went up to 72 miles, last week (2 weeks out) I dropped to 52, then this week will essentially be at only 22 before the race. The thing I am worried about most is my arm. For some reason my left upper arm and scapula have been giving me issues. I usually don't notice it until after 18 miles when I am running though, but when it does come on it is a sharp, stabbing pain. The plan is to wear a bengay patch on my arm to try to prevent that from happening. Ah!
This year has probably the most talented women's field ever entered in the marathon. For some reason since I didn't care to enter as an elite (the marathon doesn't offer anything aside for free entry for elite marathoners anyway) I didn't get a seeded bib number. I was honestly upset considering it was my hometown race and the majority of runners that did enter as elite haven't qualified for the standard, which was sub-3:00 marathon. There are a few girls who have not even run a marathon at all let alone a half marathon. So basically they submitted 10k, 10 mile times. Regardless it's my hometown race and I am not seeded. Which is OK, but to top it off I get bib number 69, really? UG! Some races purposely eliminate numbers 13 and 666, well I think number 69 should be included in that exception.
Here are some reasons why I think I will be running much faster at MHM than at Colorado Marathon:
1. Altitude. Duh. The last half of Colorado is relatively flat and that alone is going to contribute about 10 seconds faster per mile.
2. The course. The downhill first half of Colorado is kind of like the downhill at Boston, your legs feel destroyed at the end of that portion! My legs were screaming at me.
3. Training. I have significantly increased my miles for this marathon, my speed work and long runs have all been significantly faster.
4. Healthier. Last marathon, I didn't know about 6 weeks out if I was still going to run the full or have to drop to the half. My plantar fascitis was still a big issue. Luckily, my body has felt much healthier this time around.
5. Support! The first time we saw any spectators at the Colorado Marathon was around mile 17! That is a long way to run before people start cheering you on! This race will be filled with local support and my parents will be at miles 3, 8, 13-14, 19 and the finish!
So now what? Sleep well tonight. Breakfast in the morning, followed by a shakeout run and the expo. My plan is to go out in 1:25:30 and not let anyone else in the race influence that. I'm running to run 2:53, and then to try to win. 2:53 is first. I'm not about to go out too fast so I can stay with the leader in contention for first place only to fall apart so I don't 1- win, and 2- run 2:53. I do know the girl that is entered with the fastest marathon time (2:52) ran an eight minute positive split when she did that.... that does NOT sound fun! Time to see what these legs have left in them after all this training!
No comments:
Post a Comment