About that marathon I'm registered for...

Boston 2011 beat me up pretty well - possibly mentally much more than physically. I recapped as a note on facebook when I thought I was "healed" from the race, but the actual healing process took a lot longer than I thought it ever could, and sitting here this moment I'm not positive I'm back to my usual ''LOVE the marathon" self. But in June, more than a full month before the Lake Placid experience and weeks before I was even considering biting off the ironman in 2012, everyone in my running life started registering for their fall marathons. I've run the Wineglass marathon the first weekend of October in 2008, 2009, and 2010. It has become almost a holiday to me, and though my heart definitely wasn't in it in June, I put my $65 on the line and got myself registered, scared to be left out of the early autumn "fun".

The ironman idea rolled around, and then the commitment was made, and then Mike and I registered to "tri" Syracuse 70.3 on September 18th. Being registered for a 70.3 so soon has me all worked up and worried about the bike and swim. Running has remained its old self. I don't think about it much, its just something I do every day for 12 to 14 days - rest day - repeat.

And so in preparing to swim and bike the respective 70.3 distances I cobbled a 20 week training plan out of Matt Fitgerald's "Essential Week-By-Week Training Guide" into a seven week plan. Not ideal, but it was the time I had to work with and better than nothing. I've followed the cycling and swimming plans near religiously, but I was horrified that he only wants me to run three or four times a week?! I know, I know, that this is half ironman triathlon training and not half marathon training, but I can't do it. I don't know if I'll ever be able to do it.

In keeping up my 6 to 7 runs a week, I felt like my running was going far BETTER than it needed to when compared to the 3 to 4 runs Matt Fitzgerald's book asks for. Until Mike said casually in the car one day last week, "you know, if you're running Wineglass in six weeks, you should probably think about doing a long run." ooh...yeah...I'm registered for a marathon, huh?...hmmm...

Since Boston, the third week of April, I've run the half marathon distance twice, a 14 mile run, and a 16 mile run. Ouch. That is not marathon training. In comparison, according to my running log, six weeks before Boston this year I had run 14, 16, 18, 19, 20, and another 20. I finished off the training up to the race with 18, 22, and 26.2 at a "practice" marathon in Cape May, N.J. My steady 60 - 70 mile weeks of February and March have become steady 35 - 45 mile weeks of July and August.

But, with no time to sit and stew, I decided the long run just needed to get done. And so Friday morning I woke up and traded in a workout with the NEB xc team for a solo long run. 20 miles just me, my ipod (sorry to all of you running purists, but if you had my running mix on your ipod, you too may be swayed from time to time...Mike made it for me and its that good), some honey stingers, and some gatorade. And I loved every hot, heavy step of it. It was the first time in a long time that I've really loved being out there. And 20 miles rolled off like an old habit. Before I knew it, I was back in my driveway, and for the first time in a long LONG time, I was almost sad that it was over. I can't imagine any other activity giving a person the solitude that the long run offers, and I've grown attached to that alone time.

Mike started school yesterday morning, but I get one more full week. I have lots of biking and swimming planned for the week, but I think the big end of summer celebration will come in the form of a Thursday morning 22 miler. I have no idea how Syracuse will go on September 18th, and for the first time in quite a few marathons, I have no idea how Wineglass will go that first Sunday in October. I'm just so thrilled to be enjoying the preparation again!