Yesterday's run: Linear Trail: Temperature 54 degrees; Splits 9:05; 9:01; 9:02; 9:17; 9:05; 8:53; 54:23 total for 6 miles; 9:03 per mile pace.
Tuesday's Run: Road: Temperature: 63 degrees; 5.1 miles; 45:40; 8:57 per mile pace. Splits: 9:02; 9:14; 9:10; 8:59; 8:31; .44.
Yesterday I was a desperate man. I was out of GU Gel (my order arrives today), and I wanted something to have while running. Enter Swedish Fish. I decided that they would be a suitable substitute since they met my minimum requirements: 1) Easy to chew and suck on; 2) Have 36 grams of carbs; and 3) easily fit in my pocket. I loaded my pockets with about ten of them (Hey, they're small), and drove to the linear trail. It was cold. Cold enough to wear a shirt over my technical running shirt. Not cold enough to stop me from wearing shorts, however. My goal was to run 6 miles at a 9 minute pace. I didn't. It was a "blah" run. I never really felt like I got into a rhythm. I felt some minor pain in my left heel, which hasn't bothered me in a while. My splits were consistent at least, except for mile 4, but that's due to me slowing down and turning around on the trail at mile 3. The Swedish Fish didn't help me either. Now that I think about it, they probably did more harm than good. Oh well.
Tuesday's run was also a "Ho Hum" run. Nothing exciting, just 5.1 miles on the road. I had decided to take it easy since I had run the 17 miler 3 days earlier, and am in a taper period. After 4 miles, I was 25 seconds over a 9 minute per mile pace, and decided that was unacceptable. So I picked up my pace, ran a 9:15 last 1.1 miles, and finished averaging an 8:57 per mile pace.
Last night I was one click away from entering the Hartford Marathon. It was the last day to enter before fees went up another $10. So with only 9 days to go, I'm still not entered. I'm procrastinating for a few reasons. First, it's going to be a training run for me for the NY City Marathon. My Jeff Galloway Run-walk-run marathon training schedule has me scheduled to run-walk-run a 28 miler the day after the Hartford Marathon. I already know that won't happen unless I enter the Hartford Marathon. I will find every excuse in the world to either cut the run short, or not do it at all. I don't have the desire or motivation to run that long and that far by myself. It's a pain worrying about carrying nutrition and water, and as I've whined about before, I hate running long distances by myself. That being said, the Hartford Marathon would take care of all that. Second, I'm competitive, and not sure how well I can refrain from over doing it if I enter the Hartford Marathon. Ideally I should complete it in about 4:45-5 hours. Realistically, my pride and ego are standing in my way. Do I want to tell people it took me that long to finish it, and then go into the disclaimer that it's a training run for NY? I'm so anal about this that I'm actually thinking about having a shirt made and wearing it with a disclaimer on it to the effect of: "I'm walking and running for a reason, and this is just a training run for the NY City Marathon so my time doesn't matter and I just want to complete this marathon without dying or injuring myself." But I think all that's too much to put on a shirt. My third and last reason for not yet entering is the weather. I'm keeping an eye on the extended forecast. If it's supposed to rain heavily, then I probably won't enter. Yeah I know-what a wimp. But I'm off from work for that Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, so I could always run another day instead. (Which is bull, as I explained in my "First" above.)
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3 comments:
So you've never done interval training??? You have splits I would kill for!
I don't know how you marathoners do it. Running that distance has no appeal to me but I give props to those that do it.
I had to lol at your t-shirt disclaimer... you are funny and anal and like me. I would be feeling the same way. I worry too much about what other people think.
I hope you can figure out what to do re the marathon. Running in rain doesn't sound like fun so I don't blame you for not wanting to do that.
Thanks for all your helpful comments on my blog. Good luck with the rest of your training.
lol for your hartford reasoning... i am the same! i entered a full as a "long training run with some goal pace miles" and uh, ended up pr-ing.... so i certainly can't talk! it's hard to hold back. but, who are you really going to need to explain this too? we all know hartford would be a training tool for you, many people use other races as a training run, and wouldn't it feel great to get that 28 mile run/walk in the bag?
i say sign up for it and get that long workout done with crowd & nutrition support. maybe set an "intermediate" goal for yourself so you can still be a little competitive but not overdo it?
In my first marathon, a spectator handed me a Jolly Rancher at mile 23 and I was so tired and lost that I took it and ate it for the rest of the race. Once the sugar hit my blood stream, my brain became ver HAPPY and I took off running towards the finish. I think candy has it's place in a race! Good luck deciding on what to do about the marathon. I side on not running because you had so many reasons NOT to run! Good luck though!
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