Monday, May 30, 2005

A New Week Presents Itself

Well, back on track this morning with my usual Monday morning stretching, core and run session. This was a SSD, Short, Slow, Distance. I did the normal 30 minutes and added some light pole sprints in the last 3/4 mile along the road back to the Casa.

I was think of my injury to my nerve and I actually got some good training in last week. 3 hours rehab, 2 hours cycling, 2 hours climbing a mountain, 45 minute swim. Thats almost 8 hours. Its not pretty but its going in the books.

I though about this weekend I have a 3 day resort session with some friends from work. Instead of going out of town on vacation we pack up the families and go to a big vacation resort in town and stay there. We all hang by the pool, go eat, hang out, very relaxing. Got to remember to pack workout clothes to get in my long runs.

While running, I thought about Wil. She has a marathon this weekend I think. And I thought of all the 'last week' confusion that will assault her. I remembered all the months of training and sacrificing I go through for marathons and how I always managed or just managed to screw it all up because I let doubt creep in. I let my Right Mind be swayed by my Evil Mind. "Oh, I have to take these gels I have never tasted, not my tried and true because the vendor said they taste better". "Oh I have never used salt tablets in training but I see people buying them at the expo, lets introduce that in the race." Get through all that using the Right Mind and it still dosen't even prepare you for the the all time dirtiest trick of them all. Saved until the moment before the race starts, Evil Mind plays to your pride and says, "I'm not as fat as that person, surely I can run faster than him/her." Can you say Bonk! ?

Wil, if you read this, you are ready. You are trained, you are prepared. The only advice I want you to listen to all week is of course mine and its this, Stick to your plan, don't do anything you haven't already done or tried in training. The sleep two nights before the race is more important than the night before (who sleeps the night before a big race?) Walking and finishing is still finishing.

2 comments:

Nancy Toby said...

Your marathon advice is perfect!!

Wil said...

Com, you are just awesome! Yes, the race is coming up on Saturday - 5:45 a.m. I'm sure I won't get ANY sleep the night before!

And I'm so glad that you said all this because I've been trying to figure out what gels, what shorts, all of that stuff started to creep in. After reading this, I'm just going to wear the same shorts that I wore on the long 20, use the same lemon-lime e gel and water, my old trainers, and NOTHING that I haven't tried already like, 5 times.

THANKS, COM!