Final Week

Not much preparation going on in the final week to Boston.  There is not much I can do at this point to change anything.  The training that was done is done, and the training that wasn't done will be waiting for me next time.

Here is a look at what I was able to do for this training cycle since January:

week 1:  20 miles
week 2: 31 miles
week 3:  38 miles
week 4:  39 miles
week 5:  42 miles
week 6:  30 miles
week 7:  44 miles
week 8: 49 miles
week 9:  44 miles
week 10:  32 miles
week 11:  17 miles (flu mid week)
week 12:  25 miles (still getting over flu)
week 13:  44 miles
week 14:  31 miles
week 15 :  8 miles (this week):   edited to say 11 miles total before marathon

Long runs:  1 x 20 miles; 1 x 18 miles
Tempo runs:  0 miles
Speed work:  0 miles
Marathon paced miles:  3 miles
Racing:  1 half marathon 1:39 and felt terrible/hip hurt  and
1 5.5k at a sprint triathlon at a 7:35 pace and felt terrible/hip hurt

It is amazing how different this training cycle looks compared to my one last summer.  I nailed my one last summer with good amount of consistent weekly miles, weekly speed work and tempo runs, marathon paced miles, plenty of long runs with fast pace finishes, and no injuries.

I was talking to Gina today and trying to figure out our pace for Monday.  It is the first time I honestly have no clue.  Maybe it is 9 minute miles, but really I just don't know because I haven't done the work to dial it in.  In contrast, I knew exactly what was appropriate for my last marathon.  But the beauty in all of this is that I have matured so much as a runner, that instead of just picking out some pace willy-nilly and trying to hold it, I can honestly now just admit that I have no business guessing.  As of now, my plan is to probably put a cap on the fastest mile split I am willing to see on my watch, and otherwise just let my body dictate what I can hold for the day.  I am going to just try to find a pace that is sustainable for the whole race.

And it will be fine.  It is not ideal.  I am not thrilled to go run any marathon, let alone Boston, without  great training.  These things hurt, and they hurt more if you are not fit.  So, I am not looking forward to hurting more than I should.

But it is fine.  I will get to run an awesome marathon.  And there will be a future one with my name on it, ready for a smashing PR, which I know I have in me.  Maybe we have these lows in our training and racing to help us re-focus on setting new goals and accomplishing even more than we imagined possible.  Maybe these low times help ignite the fire in our bellies to have great future races.

From here on out, the goal is to just try to stay healthy, which seems to have been hard for me the past 6 months.  I already got some sort of bug or food poisoning this week which left me with such bad nausea/fever/diarrhea that my parents had to take Isla to their house for the night.  The only thing I can think that has caused such physical breakdown in the past months is stress.  So, I definitely have some things to work through once this is over to center my life again so I can resume the sports I love with success.