Ready to Tackle 13.1 For the Seventh Time

The best way to describe the last few weeks of marathon training is emotional upheaval. I keep going back and forth between exhiliration and despair. Exhiliration that the end is in sight, and my training is on track, and I'm well-positioned for a great race. Despair that I still have 4 more weeks of training ahead of me, including a few more grueling track workouts and one more 20-miler.

Because I'm running the New Bedford Half on Sunday, I backed off a bit on my tempo run Thursday. I ended up running an average 8:04 pace, with the first few and last few miles easy, and just a couple of fast miles in between. It was a nice break mentally and physically.

The race is going to be good, too. So much more fun to line up and run 13 miles in a race, rather than set out on a long run all by my lonesome. The excitement of race day is going to inject some much-needed fun into my training.

The weather is actually looking like it's going to be even warmer than I had hoped. Not hot, by any means, but close to 70, which is going to feel pretty darn warm - especially for the middle of March!  I love the warm weather, but I am a little concerned that it's going to slow me down.

That being said, I'm not super committed to a time goal for this race. I'd love to PR, and I'd love to come in right around 1:43 (which would be a PR by almost 2 minutes). But if that doesn't happen, I'm not going to be terribly upset.

My primary goal is to pace myself properly!  I NEED to not go out too fast in Gansett, which is going to be extremely difficult, for so many reasons - Scott and the boys will be there to see me start (they weren't there at either of my other two marathons, so this is a huge deal!); it's my third marathon, and one I feel extremely honored and proud to be running in; and finally, the first mile is flat as a pancake, and is part of the Super 5K course which I recently started at well under a 7:00 pace, and I'm going to need to work really hard to remind my legs that this is NOT the Super 5K, and is nowhere near a short race, and I need to save my energy.

So this weekend's race, instead of being focused on my overall average pace, I'm going for some serious negative splits. At least the first 3 or 4 miles will be run at approximately marathon pace, or even a little slower.

After that, if I'm feeling good (and I hope that I am), I'll push it to close to a tempo run pace, hoping for a few miles around 7:40, and then if I feel up to it, I'd like to finish the second half at a 7:30 pace. I've been able to run several of my 8-mile tempo runs at well under a 7:30 pace, so I think this should be very doable for me, but as always, I won't know until I'm actually out there.

So instead of thinking speedy thoughts, I'm thinking 'smart pacing' thoughts.

And as the title says, this will be my seventh half-marathon. Not counting the year I ran just 3 months postpartum, and the Surftown half, which I ran as a training run, my half-marathon times have gone as follows: 2:14:34, 1:53:25, 1:50:09, and 1:45:09.

I see a very nice trend there, and I'm hoping it continues : )

I'm strong enough. I'm fast enough. I'm ready for this.

Comments

[Marcia]

All the best with your half! Your constant improvement is so inspiring!

[Michelle]

Thanks, Marcia!

[Laura]

Thinking of you, can't wait to hear how it went!! You're definitely ready for a pr, if everything else goes according to plan. :)

[Nicole]

Hope you had a great race. I love what you wrote at the end, "I'm strong enough. I'm fast enough. I'm ready for this."