Your next Month. Believe it or not, you are now getting down to the end of your training. The next month you will log the most miles of your training. It is also the month when you are most likely to get injured. I don’t say that to scare anyone. I say that to remind you to "listen to your body." You have invested a lot of your time into this venture. Don’t risk running your marathon, because you pushed too hard through a training workout.
Mental Toughness. There is a difference between pain and suffering. Pain is when it hurts, and you want to give up. . . but you don’t. Suffering is when you are on the verge of injury and you should stop. It is a very fine line between the two, so be careful.
For many of you, your physical strength is now ahead of your mental strength. You find yourself thinking, "I can’t do this. I need to cut it short." But then you finish the run, and wish you pushed a little more. I personally am in the same boat right now.
Saturday I felt bad, and had taken two walk breaks and had convinced myself it was going to be a bad run. That was when I saw Tracy P. waiting with her jogging stroller to finish the run with me. I never walked another step and was able to run the last few miles around a nine-minute pace. So even though my mind told me to quit, it turns out my legs were ready to keep going. I just needed to get over my mental hurdle.
Wednesday. I will be running at 5:45 today if anyone wants to join me. I plan to leave from my house, but would gladly meet somewhere else. Let me know!
Thursday. I plan to do my speed workout at City Lake. The workout will be tough, but simple to execute. The novice plan will do three one-mile repeats, and the intermediates will do five. If you cant find a track, this is an easy workout on the roads to. Use the McMillan Running site to figure out your goal pace.
This Weekend. I will not be in town next weekend. Frank will lead the group. I will have a route and directions available before we leave. We will need help getting out fluids. It is only a 12-miler so we could get away with one stop at the train tracks most likely. Please let Frank know if you can help out.
Remember, this is a recovery run this weekend. The following week the miles go back up. If your legs are sore and/or tired, try to Saturday easy, and let them rest.
44 Days until your marathon.
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