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Pocono marathon

The First 20 and Boston Week 4 Recap

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Saturday was the first of 5 20-milers that I’ll be doing to prep for Boston.  Why so many?  Well, practice makes perfect and (generally) I handle 20 miles pretty well in terms of recovery, so I can do a lot of them without compromising my other runs.

So the weather was perfect on Saturday.  Seriously, it felt like Spring.  Night and day compared to a week ago.  I did 2 hilly loops totaling 11 miles before heading for some flat, paved trail for the remaining 9 miles.  My breathing felt off the entire time.  I slowed down, I sped up, and yet it was still off.  I started getting hot and I guess I was sweating more than I thought.  I tried drinking more but it was too late, I was already dehydrated.  Boo.  The last 3 miles were HARD.  I wanted to stop and quit, especially at mile 19.  19 miles?  20 miles?  What’s the difference?  I thought about Boston and, knowing I would never quit at mile 25, I trudged onward.  2 hours and 55 minutes later (8:45 average pace), I was done.

I quickly got into my car (all I wanted to do was sit down) and chugged my chocolate milk.  Then the aching and throbbing began.  My legs were hurting big time.  I transitioned into sitting too quickly.  I usually walk around, drink my chocolate milk, and stretch a bit before driving home.  Thank god it’s a short drive because I was in pain.  Some stretching, a nice hot shower, lots of food, and a long walk with Hawk and my legs felt completely fine.

Boston Week 4 Recap
MON:  6 miles easy
TUE:  8 miles tempo with 4 miles @ 7:50 pace (7:44, 7:48, 7:54, 7:57).  During the last interval there was a creepy raccoon wandering around and I had to stop and wait for it to move away.  Ewwww.
WED:  barre  My body was screaming for a rest day so I slept in instead.
THU:  5 miles with 10 hill repeats.  I did a mix of short and long hill repeats.
FRI:  yoga.  I left the class feeling wonderful!
SAT:  20 miles
SUN:  5 miles super easy

44 miles for the week.  I was aiming for 47 but oh well, I needed rest.  This week is a drop back week….all the way to 40 miles.  Living on the edge!

Ever get that achy, throbbing feeling in your legs?  The last time I got it was after the Pocono Marathon in May 2010 (it was so memorable because it was so painful).  

 

 

Breaking The Curse

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I have a Spring marathon curse.  I’m blogging about it to prove, in black and white, how ridiculous it sounds and how I have managed to make myself believe it.  I have it engrained in my head that every Spring marathon I run, I suck/bonk/give up/etc.  Yep, the Spring marathon curse.

Prior to 2010, I only ran Fall marathons.  My first Spring marathon was May 2010 (the Pocono Marathon).  It sucked.  The following Fall, I ran Steamtown.  It was awesome.  Next Spring, I ran the NJ Marathon.  Although I did PR by 6 minutes, I considered it a sucky effort.  Then in September, at the Lehigh Valley Marathon, I BQ’d.  See the pattern here?  Bad -> good -> bad -> good…which means my next marathon will be bad because it’s in the Spring.  Someone please slap me.

So why are my Spring marathons bad?  I managed to convince myself that I run slower in the winter, because I’m never fully warmed up.  Therefore my training suffers and I have a bad race day.  This is just ridiculous.  Yes, training over the winter is challenging and can be difficult but it can also be effective…just as effective as summer training.

The only problem, besides the fact that I’m crazy, is this Spring marathon is Boston.  It could not possibly suck.  I’ve waited 10 years to run this race.  How can I allow myself to get sucked into thinking I will suck/bonk/give up/etc. at Boston?

I’m already comparing my long runs and speed work to my last training cycle, overanalyzing to look for drastic improvement.  This can only end bad…especially for someone like me, when training “clicks” or all comes together later on.

I’m done working on the warped thinking.  I’m done comparing my current runs to runs this past summer.  What’s the point of working my ass off for 15 weeks if I’m going to let a silly, made-up curse take me down on race day?  Instead, I will believe in what worked for me last September – hard work and determination.

Do you have a particular distance or race that you feel is cursed?  

Summer or winter training – which do you prefer?  Summer all the way for me.  Oh, I’ll complain about the humidity but I love me a long, sweaty run!