Wednesday, March 01, 2006
Pre-marathon Analysis
I am slowly starting to feel the restlessness caused by the reduction of mileage during tapering. This week I plan on only running three times, compared to up to 5 during peak training weeks. I am wondering if I should go to the pool and swim tonight.
My cold is much better, I only have a few lingering signs (e.g. runny nose). I can slowly feel my energy returning, I hope that I don’t have a relapse before the marathon (less than 11 days from now).
I need to cut back on my eating some, I gained a couple pounds over the past week and a half – I sitting at 163 lbs. I was hoping to be down to 155 before the race, but it didn’t happen – and now is not the time to go on a crash diet. I am going to try to lose the 2 lbs that I gained before this weekend, then try to maintain this weight until race day.
My main concentration for the next 11 days is keeping the body loose through some slightly-faster-than-marathon-tempo runs, getting lots of sleep – especially the last few days, and eating well (i.e. quality).
My “point in time” self-analysis is that I feel more tired than I should be (and compared to my first two marathons). There are two influential factors involved. 1) I am just getting over a cold. 2) I just finished training for what will be my 3rd marathon in 10 months.
From the mental side I feel less cocky and more disciplined. Shortly before the last marathon I talked myself into starting at a much faster pace than I had originally planned on (e.g. looking for a sub-4) and didn’t have the endurance and/or fortitude to hold it to the end.
On March 12th I am determined to run the race that I trained for. In a best case scenario I will be feeling so good during the last 10K that I will run one fantastic negative split for the second half. In any case first I have to run a smart 32K/20M race.
My cold is much better, I only have a few lingering signs (e.g. runny nose). I can slowly feel my energy returning, I hope that I don’t have a relapse before the marathon (less than 11 days from now).
I need to cut back on my eating some, I gained a couple pounds over the past week and a half – I sitting at 163 lbs. I was hoping to be down to 155 before the race, but it didn’t happen – and now is not the time to go on a crash diet. I am going to try to lose the 2 lbs that I gained before this weekend, then try to maintain this weight until race day.
My main concentration for the next 11 days is keeping the body loose through some slightly-faster-than-marathon-tempo runs, getting lots of sleep – especially the last few days, and eating well (i.e. quality).
My “point in time” self-analysis is that I feel more tired than I should be (and compared to my first two marathons). There are two influential factors involved. 1) I am just getting over a cold. 2) I just finished training for what will be my 3rd marathon in 10 months.
From the mental side I feel less cocky and more disciplined. Shortly before the last marathon I talked myself into starting at a much faster pace than I had originally planned on (e.g. looking for a sub-4) and didn’t have the endurance and/or fortitude to hold it to the end.
On March 12th I am determined to run the race that I trained for. In a best case scenario I will be feeling so good during the last 10K that I will run one fantastic negative split for the second half. In any case first I have to run a smart 32K/20M race.
# posted by Jack : 10:59 AM
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