Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Marathon Decisions

Okay, there are decisions that need to be made. I ran 5 miles on Sunday at a comfortable pace (7:30ish). I had slight discomfort for the first 2 miles. Today I ran 6.5 miles at an even easier pace (8:30ish). There was absolutely zero pain. I also pushed the pace for half a mile towards the end of the run. All was well.

 

However, I am still taking it very easy. I need to test the legs with a marathon pace run (6:50). I need to see if my race goals are achievable.

 

reckoning-day

When it comes to race day I believe you either execute or you don’t. I really don’t care what the reasons are for not achieving. When it is all said and done it doesn’t matter. It can be the conditions, it can be your condition but it doesn’t really matter.

 

Matty-O sent me the following:

 

The big question in your head is this: Do I pull the trigger on race day to hit my goal, or do I back off at the first sign of pain so that I don't throw my season in the trash can?

 

So here is the decision that needs to be made. This marathon is important to me. But I need to be smart about this. This race is not so important that I will risk the rest of the season (or more). So I need to take a look at my options –

 

  1. I race the marathon at my projected pace (6:50)
  2. I run the marathon with one of my buddies – kiss sub-3 good bye for now
  3. I run the half marathon – much slower than current half PR
  4. I skip the whole dang race

 

The next week will let me know where I will fall.  Since I am in taper mode I do not think I will lose any of my fitness but I still need to test the legs at race pace.  I think this run will occur on Thursday.  That will be the deciding day – a day of reckoning if you will.

 

Don’t forget the 2011 Wannabe Burpee Challenge.

6 comments:

Big Daddy Diesel said...

My first race of the year is a half mary, which I will be meeting up with Matty. My goal is to finish, its a measuring stick for my 140.6 at the end of the season.

misszippy said...

You're being really smart to keep your options--all of them--open like that. No race is worth a whole season. I'm glad, though, that it looks like the PR effort might be a go!

Matty O said...

And my response to that is... will you actually listen to yourself? I think you are smart enough to back down if need be.

I was kinda pissed when I read you were having some issues because I thought it would be really awesome seeing you crush that 3hr mark (even if its by 1 second... it counts as crushing it). That is a huge milestone.

I wanted the 3:10 so bad that it consumed me and messed me up mentally for a good month since I was not running and kept getting injured. The smartest thing I have done this year was backing off and not even keeping it as a thought in my head.

Good luck man. I am rooting for you!

Happy Feet 26.2 said...

We are so driven to PR, or to our current goal. I wish for you the ability to make the correct (best) decision. I hope you are feeling 100% and can go for it, but if not, I hope you are strong enough to make the "right" decision.

Good Luck!

If you are not 100%, how about Snickers Albany, GA. It's a FAST course, minus the hoopla - not sure if you "need" the hoopla, or not. Anyway, it would give you some extra recovery time.

Tri-James said...

I do like Snickers. I am not 86'ing this race yet. Just being careful.

Papa D said...

Remember that you have Boston coming up later.
Seems like that would be a more important goal.
I would hate to see you risk missing that one.
Good luck but be careful.