Naturally, as most of you have followed lately I have had some ups and downs. Concussion followed by lack of training, then a 109 mile cycling event, recover with running 23 miles in two days, then a bit of a relapse mentally and now to top it all off, a marathon this weekend.
It's a life.
It's also the strangest month of training before a marathon I've ever done. The good thing is that deep down, I know I own this distance. I have the base for it. Also I have no pressure and no expectations. I am running with John my training partner and Ironman, and his brother Dan who is also an Ironman who just finished Florida after getting a diagnosis of cancer this year.
John has never 'run' a marathon, though is an Ironman. He got off the bike and left T2 with his massive brain (he's a genius) knowing that if he averaged 17 minute miles he would finish before midnight. And he did. Also with the best attitude during the marathon of anyone else I knew that day.
So we are running the Tucson marathon this weekend. Slooooooooowly. I am the rabbit. My rabbit like pace? About 12:30 per mile. Which for a stand alone mary, is a bit slower than my normal pace, but in perspective, I averaged only modestly faster at IMFL.
Which is why I am really not struggling mentally with this event. The one thing an Ironman does is provide clarity to endurance. When your the slowest swimmer in your group but realize you still beat the IM cut off by fifty minutes, thats okay. When I saw that even with a viral infection in my lungs I still finished the IM bike averaging like 13 mph, I am really not afraid of riding a century as a stand alone event.
I consider running my strongest event, not from speed but from knowledge and base. Yes a sub 4:30 marathon is great and about my normal Z2 training pace. But I did 5:30 at IMFL. But I have also run a 3:29 in the Army.
I look forward to this weekend. Running is fun. Running with Friends...funner.
It's a life.
It's also the strangest month of training before a marathon I've ever done. The good thing is that deep down, I know I own this distance. I have the base for it. Also I have no pressure and no expectations. I am running with John my training partner and Ironman, and his brother Dan who is also an Ironman who just finished Florida after getting a diagnosis of cancer this year.
John has never 'run' a marathon, though is an Ironman. He got off the bike and left T2 with his massive brain (he's a genius) knowing that if he averaged 17 minute miles he would finish before midnight. And he did. Also with the best attitude during the marathon of anyone else I knew that day.
So we are running the Tucson marathon this weekend. Slooooooooowly. I am the rabbit. My rabbit like pace? About 12:30 per mile. Which for a stand alone mary, is a bit slower than my normal pace, but in perspective, I averaged only modestly faster at IMFL.
Which is why I am really not struggling mentally with this event. The one thing an Ironman does is provide clarity to endurance. When your the slowest swimmer in your group but realize you still beat the IM cut off by fifty minutes, thats okay. When I saw that even with a viral infection in my lungs I still finished the IM bike averaging like 13 mph, I am really not afraid of riding a century as a stand alone event.
I consider running my strongest event, not from speed but from knowledge and base. Yes a sub 4:30 marathon is great and about my normal Z2 training pace. But I did 5:30 at IMFL. But I have also run a 3:29 in the Army.
I look forward to this weekend. Running is fun. Running with Friends...funner.
10 comments:
You go and have fun out there being pace bunny!! (You deserve some fun after the kind of month you've had.)
Silly rabbit!
Have a world of fun out there.
Have a good run. I find often when I go in with low expectations and just try to have fun, my result is much better. Weird how that happens ... :)
I am sure you will have a great race this weekend. Please be careful out there though.
Tucson was my first marathon. Almost all downhill, I remember thinking "Maybe I can run this fast since it's downhill..." NOT.
Have a blast!
Sounds like a good time. Just grind it out and smile for the finishing photo :-)
have a great time, comm! i spectated tucson a few years back - its kinda boring landscape wise, so running with friends will be great! and knowing the course, i think the opportunity is there to run a pretty awesome race.
Hope you have a blast!
are these friends running two-abreast and talking?
good luck!
There are mountain ranges (the back side of what you rode a few months ago) to your left the whole way. I think the views are spectacular...momo is just spoiled! :-)
Weather is going to clear for it too! Perfect!
Personally I liked the OLD course in the 80s...but then who the hell am I? right?
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