Yea, that happened this week. It's actually now only 5.5 weeks away. Yikes!
 |
| Sure, why not? |
I haven't been in a running routine since I was training for Boston last spring. Through May & June, I kind of lost my running mojo and it was really hard to get motivated. I told myself I was 'recovering' from Boston. (Which is totally legit.)
Somehow I squeaked out a 5k PR on July 4, without doing much speed work at all. I've been running most of the summer, but no real training plan or focus. At the end of August, I found myself telling someone that I was still 'recovering' from Boston... 4 months later. Lol, don't think I can use that as an excuse any more. :-P
So, one of my running buds here in the Bean Town runs the Columbus Marathon every year, and I have run the half-marathon the past couple years. I've done a few of her long runs with her, and last weekend we did 14. I felt pretty good, so I decided to go ahead and sign up for the half-marathon. But... the half was already filled up, so I did the next logical thing - signed up for the full! Haha... it is on October 20, so just 38 days away.
I have a strange sense of peace about this race... I know it's very unlikely that I will PR so I am going in with a 'just have fun' attitude. Usually I plan out a whole 16-week marathon training cycle, with tempos and hill workouts and three 20+ mile runs. This time, I think I will try for a 16, 18, 20, and then taper. It has actually been a lot of fun to approach the marathon in a pressure-free way. (I know, I am the one who usually puts the pressure on myself to perform well. It's so hard not to when you are putting in a lot of hard training!)
So we'll see how it goes. In other news, I finally broke down and got one of these...
I have been using a Wal-mart watch for the last 5 years or so. Its only function was to keep time, so I would either just run for time or map the route when I got home. Well, my Business Man had some extra points in the prize-catalog at work and gave me free rein. (Which was like the best day ever. Think back to fundraisers when you were a kid... the more junk beautiful knick knacks you sold, the better prize you got to pick from that rockin' prize catalog. This was just like that, but without the door-to-door selling and disappointment of never earning enough points!)
This pretty green watch was in the catalog so I decided to go for it. Now, I don't really use it much besides start & stop like my old watch. (I have no idea how to set it up for intervals and whatnot.) But it is so fun to see my splits & elevation broken down after the run! I have noticed that my first mile is always a lot slower than the rest. I'm pretty sure that's because I am sleep-running that first mile.
On a more pathetic note, I did a depressing 'hill' workout on Tuesday. First of all, I went out around 10:30am on a day where it was already 88*F with something like 85% humidity. Not the wisest choice. So I ran my 400m 'hills' that I have done in the past, where I run hard (but steady) up the hill and then jog back down. I came home, so excited to see the elevation climbs on the watch. I pretty much climbed mountains! (Or so I thought.) And... it was a total elevation change of about 50ft. Haha, so hardcore. Not. Oh well, at least it was something.
So, I might be back to blog about marathon training. (Or 'marathon training'.) But more than likely I won't, since my track record of blogging hasn't been so great lately. At least I have an excuse to eat more carbs now...
Comments