Friday, September 15, 2006

Clouded Over

It's a good thing I captured all of those photographic moments of my last run because I think it's been cloudy ever since. I still had some aches and pains this week, so I've modified my training a bit 'til the marathon. A little less distance and a little more speed - not really speedwork, just pacing on the workouts. I had a great run at Greenlake yesterday - I did two loops of the lake with a loop around Woodland Park in the middle to make it about 8.5 miles. There are so many people at Greenlake, and it's paved and flat, so it made for some great race pacing - it tends to go by quick when you are weaving in and out of people the whole time. I'm not talking about passing runners - more of the strollers, roller-bladers, walkers, etc. - sort of the place in the city that everybody goes for general exercise.

I think I'll attempt some pace-work on my Sunday run - try to race-simulate many miles at pace, and see if I can cut down at all by the last 4 or 5. I'm thinkin' 12-14 miles sounds good. I'll have several hours to stroll the zoo during my daughter's birthday party in the afternoon - makes for a great post-workout cooldown - if I don't fall over in the process. Then I'll taper. I'm still trying to figure out how I'm going to run next week when I'll be camping and there are no showers. Do I dare hang out all stinky for others to have to deal with? Ponderous . . .

I'm looking forward to the marathon, and I think I'm looking forward to after the marathon. Sometimes when I run a race and finish, I think: "Now what?" For some reason, though, I'm looking forward to just training and cross-training. I did a marathon in May, and in late August, and then this one in early October. I've loved the training and the long runs, but am ready for a break. I've been able to learn where my strengths and weaknesses are for racing, and what I want to focus on this fall and winter. And then there's my looming spring decision. Boston? Eugene? I dunno. It seems so far off, but when you schedule it and plan it, and figure when you'll need to start your training, it's right around the corner. I think my mind is cloudy like the weather - like a permanent fog rolled in for a while.

I'm heading over to the eastern part of the state to watch my brother compete in the Grand Columbian tomorrow - it's his first Half Ironman, so I'm pretty excited for him. My husband's first tri - Black Diamond is the following weekend. Three weekends in October are already taken up by a mountain bike race, a duathlon and my marathon. (The bike events are my husbands, not mine.) And the kids have soccer games on Saturdays. I don't think I'm going to be able to avoid cross-training for much longer with my family's habits. I've been falling asleep on the couch all week after the kids go to bed, so perhaps just running until this marathon and recovery is over will be enough.

3 comments:

Toasty said...

Reading this post, made me wonder if you are mentally getting ready for the marathon. I think you are.

Now it could just be my imagination, but what I think is you are feeling good about your runs. As you should. You feel tired but know that there is plenty of time to recover. You know exactly where you are with your running and also know exactly where you should be. And you are there!!!!

The hard work is done and you have the experience to setup up in the next 2 weeks. Good that you are thinking about your runs next week and it shows you are looking forward, planning, preparing .... it's all good.

Sarah said...

I often think that after the next race, I'll just train. But I usually find I eventually need to have a specific goal (race) to work towards.

Yeah, it sure seems like autumn has arrived here in the PNW! : )

Danielle said...

I know the feeling of being ready to just focus on running and cross-training...I've only done 1 other full this year and have one more end of October and I can't wait to just do long runs of 10-15 miles and not have to go on those really long ones...and it's good to think ahead to the spring ones...they do take planning!! I don't know myself yet which...if I get into Boston, I might still wait till 2008 for it.