by This is the part of my training program where I start to question my sanity.
Let me explain.
I really don’t have a moment where I can point to where I decided running a marathon was a good idea. I just know that at some point I wasn’t planning to run or training for a marathon, and then I was. There’s no big moment to talk about. No revelation. But I do know that somewhere along the way I decided that just randomly running here and there, and maybe focusing on a long run over the weekend, was probably not a viable strategy to get myself ready to run 26.2 miles by November 10th.
Of course, there’s several schools of thought as to how to train for a marathon, and people who feel strongly one way or the other about each plan. I sorta randomly picked one, and am hoping for the best — Hal Higdon’s Novice 1 plan. Over the course of training, it has been a number of “two steps forward, one step back” progressions.
I managed to work my way through 15 miles Sunday morning, which was a big two steps forward. I managed to get out at about 6:30am and watched Chincoteague Island wake up, while plodding around the island, and out to Assateague, and back to the island. I ran at my intended marathon pace, and felt pretty damn well until about mile 13 when I hit a wall, any my performance took a pretty big hit, but managed to finish strongly enough to feel pretty good about things.
I felt surprisingly well the next morning, and then I immediately made a huge mistake — I started running again with only one day of rest. I did manage a 4 mile run on Tuesday, about 36 hours after running 15 miles. But the planned 8 mile run was a disaster on Wednesday. I got about 4 miles into it and my right quad was really tweaked. I just couldn’t continue, and ended up walking the last 4 miles, then I skipped today’s 4 mile run, as I figure I’m more in need of running a strong 16 miles on this coming Saturday, then I am in need of running 4 miles tonight. Like I said, two steps forward, one back. I’ll get a good run in like the 15 miles this past weekend, then make a poor choice and/or bad planning decision, like not resting enough rest before the next run, or screwing up hydration, or getting screwed by the weather, and I get knocked backwards, and I again start to worry I won’t be ready in time.
I was listening to an audiobook that focuses on the processes of training for an ultramarathon, which is a race that is usually 32 miles or more. Although the line was about an ultra, I think it applies to any long distance running: 90% of it is mental, and the other 10% is mental.
Three hours to get through 15 miles is a long time to occupy your mind. I’m at this stage where I’m just bored with audio books and music while I run, and I really am starting to question what the hell I’m doing and why. But I made this plan to run 26.2 miles on November 10th. So I’m going to keep following this training plan until I either run 26.2 miles in the allotted time, or some injury prevents me from continuing to train, or I fail to complete the race on the day in the allotted time.
I really don’t know how this is going to end for me, but at least I’ve managed to turn a half marathon length race into something bordering on routine. So there’s that. But I really can’t imagine completing this race. And I can’t imagine not completing it. Along the way I’ve decided that ultra runners have to be nuts. And I’m wondering if I’m really actually as crazy as they are. I’m starting to doubt it. But I also haven’t stopped running either.
