I’m #keepingitreal today.
This week and next week are “pre-marathon” training weeks. The only goal of these 2 weeks are to add some speed work back in and acclimate (reacquaint?) myself to higher intensity workouts. After that I’m doing a traditional 16-week plan.
I should be excited. I’m always excited to begin training for a marathon.
I’m scared instead. Add in anxious and doubtful too.
My last marathon was December 2012. Ages ago. Pre-Fiona and during the best Fall racing season I ever had. I look at my training log from 2012 with my mouth wide open. I really did all that?
So, in no particular order, these are my scared, anxious, and doubtful concerns:
And now I have a kid
Yes, lots of people with children train and run marathons (i.e., most of my clients). Totally doable. I’m more worried about being tired all the time. I’m already tired with regular training and running around after Fiona. I don’t want to be a zombie. Not really looking for a magic answer here other than suck it up. Everyone does it. And everyone is tired. Right?
MAF training – the land of happy, low intensity
MAF training was awesome. I build a solid base and got faster. And before MAF training, I spent all of 2014 base building. My base is built. The foundation is solid. But I’ve become very comfortable with low intensity training. Other than a few half marathons last year, I’ve spent very little time in the pain cave. I fear the pain cave. (If I can think of any drawbacks to MAF training, this would be it.)
How should I go about this?
Obviously, I want to PR at the Via Marathon (September) or Monster Mash Marathon (October). That’s the goal. But without a recent half marathon time, I’m kinda lost on an exact goal time. (My PR is 3:41.)
The only thing I figured out so far is how I want to approach marathon training. I mentioned using a (modified) Pfitz plan but decided against it. What I need is the exact opposite of what I have been doing. No more base building. Instead, it’s track work and tempos. Every week. Simple and uncomplicated (but tough). It worked wonderfully for me in the past. And I’m really hoping that layering in these speed workouts on top of a solid base brings me to that PR. If nothing else, I’ll spend time in the pain cave and build some mental toughness. Gulp.
Or maybe I should shut down all this thinking and analyzing and Just Do It?!
Fiona enjoys the track…with snacks, of course.
