Rest
Tuesday
Rest
Is there a medal for the prettiest hooves? :)
Wednesday
.5 WU, 4 x 1000 with 400 recovery, .5 CD
Time goal: 5:09
Interval 1: 5:09
Interval 2: 5:09
Interval 3: 5:06
Interval 4: 5:49
Aw, it was nice to be at Riverside. So many speed demons, so many familiar faces. <3ed it!
I had kicked some serious HR butt at work, and that adrenaline rush made me seriously READY to DO-THIS_THING. Lol.
The two first intervals felt HARD though! The 'track' for these had both 'ups' and 'downs.' It was also probably in about the mid to high 70s. The 3rd one required more than just a 400 recovery (read: chat away with buds for a good 2-3 minutes before having another go! But with that recovery, and three to chase (Jody, Craig, and at the last, Jerry), this one felt much easier than the first two. We had said only 2-3 instead of the 4-5, so that our taper wasn't too aggressive, so the 4th was just me by my lonesome at a more moderate effort. I think it was going to be slower regardless, but it might not have been 5:49 if not for FP. So overall, thumbs up Indicator chart! :)
In other news .. we forgot to take a picture! T...H...E.. H... O..R..R..O...R!
haha.
Thursday / Friday / Saturday
Cross-training: Swimming tonight. Maybe 1 - 5k Friday, and biking (leisurely) on Saturday's bike tour. A little nervous about the biking. I don't think I have biked anywhere in a decade. I think I need training wheels!
What my biking experience looks like to date. :)
About this crazy idea Michele and I had
I can't remember what the conversation was about, but certainly it started with whether or not Michele was wanting to tackle the full distance at all this year. (This is before Brandi and I convinced her completely to throw her name in the hat for Chicago). At some point she must have jokingly said 'lets just do it. Lets change our half-marathon registration to the full-marathon at the Flying Pig. Pull the band aide off, so to speak.' Ever since then, the idea has been playing around in my head. And its crazy. But so am I.
Reasons to
Why did this come to appeal to me SO MUCH? I know its difficult to imagine, but I actually see it now as the "fun" option. Fun run a marathon? Without training enough? What are you thinking, right? Well, if you've been reading these for any length of time, you know that I struggle with my 'mental game.' Why am I doing this? I can't do that. I can't run that fast again. Etc., etc., etc. As we approach race days, the anxiety just builds and builds.
But I KNOW when I DIDN'T struggle with this: 2014.
When I was an underdog. Running a distance for the first time. When I was 30+ lbs heavier than I am now, with at tops a 10 miler under my belt, and just worried about not getting picked up by a swag wagon my 1st time out. When I walked if I needed to. And ran slower than that. The sheer exhaustion, the sheer pride, the sheer joy was in NO WAY negated by a 2:55:00ish finish time. In fact, heck, PR baby!! There's no way to describe it. I was FLYING on AIR!!
Physically, 1/2 marathons don't feel that way any more. I'm not a superhero after, by any means, but I don't lay on the couch icing, and rolling, and napping, unable to climb steps or hobble out of cars for weeks on end. I don't have one cycle under my belt, I have 3, with 2 peachtree training sessions and a W5K thrown in for good measure. The last cycle right after another. I've run 13.1 at least a dozen times now. This is a different kind of prepared for the same race.
To run a half at my goal (PR) pace I need to approach 9:30 avg pace, though (or such; I'm sure I'll look it up specifically before race day). Any less, tantrum Judy. Any better, happy Judy.
To run a marathon, I can plan to keep a steady easy-ish pace of 10:30 for the first 13, and the typical run lead pace of 12-12:30 the rest of the time. Or even better .. WHATEVER the HECK I want. It will be a big adventure! Happy Judy, 100% guaranteed!
I kinda want to finish my 1st marathon (pre 1st really) like Judy 2014 did. Taking selfies if I feel like taking selfies, making friends when I see someone struggling or walking, completely intending to finish in 6:30 minutes and nothing more. Maybe with some buds on the 1st 13.1. Way behind those buds for the 2nd half, but maybe finding some new ones or the final pace group to hang onto at the end.
There is just NO WAY Chicago will end up that way. I will have trained up. Trained hard! I will owe it to myself to go out there and GET.IT. Whatever 'IT' ends up being. And I am okay with that. Its going to be AWESOME. But after 2+ years of running, it will NOT be like my first 1/2 at that point. Ain't nobody got time fo dat on their first trained up for marathon! lol.
So this just sounded like the perfect nod to who I am and where I've been. And good precursory information for Chicago, too. Plus it will be such inspiration to be a part of the group that did train for a full-marathon this spring .. if just for some of the miles.
And physically, I just *know* I can handle it. How many people don't end up 'over doing it' now and again. I haven't 'over done it' in at least a year. I don't get seriously sore any more ... unless I try doing something with ab or arm involvement, lol .. but see, that's what I mean. My legs NEVER get THAT sore. But they can! They have.
I'm not crazy. I'm not thinking I can run the entire thing. I don't want to do it in 5:30. I'm not even too proud to DNF the sucker. That's the freeing thing of not having trained. Bail on it at mile 20 .. who cares! If you took the weakest most first cycle, entry-level marathoner from the 2016 Fall training, and butted them up with me, I would dare any one to tell me I wasn't as capable. Not to belittle the efforts of any such person, but I'm not going to negate all of my work either. Full distance under belt or not, I have been MUCH more diligent in my running in 2015 than 2014, and in 2016 than in 2015. That counts for a lot! And I DID a half in 2014 .. before all that!
Comparing that to what I'll do in the Fall is like apples and oranges. Thinking this will negate anyone eles's efforts, or what my race in the Fall will be, is just completely invalid to me. There's no room for comparisons in running. Note to self: Do you, boo!!
So ... New adventure? Sign me up, please!
But ...
Reasons not to
1. More likely than not, its going to pore. I don't love the idea of running in the rain. For 26.2, not ideal. And I won't really know if this is the case or not at the expo, when the decision needs to be made.
2. I could get hurt. Not just the blissful exhaustion mentioned above that I never really approach now after a 1/2. But REALLY hurt. And then I'd have 20+ I told ya so's on my hands, instead of the normal support you get when you get injured, because it would be my fault.
3. There's something about peer-pressure. If you are not able to make 20+ of the closest, most supportive people in your life say at least that, 'well, hey, I think you're cheating yourself of the full 20+ week experience, and I wouldn't do it, but your decision is at least marginally not ridiculous, so go for it if you want to' well.. the fact that I've only gotten one, maybe two of those, and the rest more like CAPS LOCK NO DON'T DO IT. That's enough serious doubt to negate any of my own feelings on the topic. :/
4. Michele could get hurt. This one is unacceptable, and concludes the debate. I'd want her to have a choice in whether or not she is running her first marathon this way. I don't want her to have to, just because she thinks I need support. If she got hurt, I'd regret the whole thing, and that's not acceptable. I could run it without Michele, not even letting her in on it when I go to change my bib, so that she feels no pressure what so ever, but then I'd have asked her to sign up for a different marathon she didn't necessarily want to do, and then be ditching her to go run my own 1st marathon alone anyway. Either way, not the friend I need to be now that she's voting for not doing it!
So I still wanna .. but its not in the cards. I'll BRING.IT (whatever IT still is) to run the best half I can. If I run a PR, joy to follow. And if I do a little poopy-diaper-baby thing for an hour after the race because I didn't, so be it too. By brunch / post-pig-party-fest, I'll be back to myself as if it never happened.
(unless Michele surprises me by changing her bib first without telling me! haha. So 99.9% I am not running my 1st marathon on Sunday. Hee hee.)
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