I made it 20 miles in yesterday’s Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon. 20 miles is pretty crazy on basically no training (heck, I’ve been running 20 miles a WEEK for the last two months), and I’m also proud that I stopped when I did. Granted, I probably should’ve stopped at the first sign of pain (around mile 9), and not kept going, but oh well. I did. I made it 20 miles, and that’s pretty darn good, especially given the conditions.
I’m not upset about not finishing, I’m truly not. But I do feel disillusioned, and I don’t know why. I came away from the race feeling that I don’t really ever want to do TCM again, and that I’d stick to the 10 mile race. I also felt like I didn’t really ever want to do another marathon again.
I don’t know. I guess I need some time to think about and process all this junk. And honestly, deep down, I don’t think I’ll ever give up marathons completely—at least, that’s if the IT band holds out. But I think I need a break. And I’m sure I set myself back quite a bit going as far as I did yesterday. But I’ll just be taking it easy. And working on getting my running legs back. And then maybe I’ll train for and run the Earth Day Half Marathon in April 2009.
I did start to wonder yesterday if perhaps I’d be better off spending the next year or so really focusing on pace, and get that under control, and *then* aim for another marathon. Maybe I just didn’t give myself enough time to get faster? I don’t know. It’s just a thought right now. If anything, there’s nothing wrong with running shorter races for awhile before tackling a marathon again. If I tackle one again. J
I do like the FIRST plan. I’ve been realizing that more and more. I like only running 3 days a week, and having such specific workouts. But so many out there poo-poo the plan, and think you have to run crazy mileage. Maybe you do. Obviously, I didn’t get to test the FIRST plan for a marathon this year. Because I got injured. Maybe that should say something in of itself? But then I look at the Pfitz program and I really wonder if I could do 55 miles a week. That just seems like so much.
I don’t have to decide now, I don’t have to decide now. I’ve got some options—FIRST, Pfitz, Hal Higdon. When the time comes, I can see where I’m at and decide then. For now, it’s just a matter of running and hanging out, getting my mileage back up.
Maybe I won’t even train for anything specific. Who knows? For now, my focus is going to be on running 4 days a week, and gradually increasing my “long” runs up to ten miles. I’ll run Tuesday, Thursday, Fridays and Sundays. On my “off” days, I’ll focus on core work and yoga. And on Saturdays, I’ll snuggle with my Abe.
posted by Lola @ 12:52 PM
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