So here I am, one day before my race. The weather is forecasted to be gorgeous.A high of 70 for the day, but hopefully mid 40s-high 50s while I'm running. No rain, no wind, low humidity.
I’m so excited, I feel like I did the day before we went to Disneyworld when I was 10. It’s awesome to think that at this time tomorrow, I will be a marathoner.
I am definitely nervous, but am trying to block all of the negative thoughts out of my head.I did three runs over 20 miles, and two more of 18. I ran 22 miles after three of the toughest weeks I’ve ever run, and then came back the next day and raced a 5k. I did weekly speedwork sessions and strength trained. I trimmed over an inch off of my waist (I have well defined abs!) I’m so ready. I know I can do it and hopefully as fast as I think I can.
My race strategy is going to go like this: run a comfortable 4 hour pace (or maybe even slightly more) for the first 8 or so miles.When the big down hill section comes, I’ll try to make up some time and let gravity help me with my pace. For the second half, I’m going to try to stay steady as the course flattens.With a nice river to look at, and a ghetto area to keep me motivated to run fast, I know I’ll be ok. ran my last three long runs in negative splits, so I don't expect tomorrow to be any different.
I’ve decided against wearing my Garmin. I get kind of obsessive about checking it, plus I’m afraid of it chafing my un-gloved wrist. I just want to run my race, and if that happens to be faster or slower than my plan, I don’t want to be freaking out about it every couple minutes. That will only make it worse.
I'm going to wear an orange Under Armour tshirt shirt with my green Nike Tempo shorts. I'm planning on writing "Don't stop believin" on the back. I think it's perfect.
It's one of my favorite songs, and reminds me of other great accomplishments (like Rugby Nationals) and nights at Bentley's and C-Stone that I wouldn't exactly call accomplished, but enjoyable all the same.&
It's a great motto for a marathon, don't stop believin you can do this, Meredith!
-The band is Journey, and I can't think of a better way to describe four months of training.
-Finally, I hope it will elicit comments from other runners. Maybe it will even inspire someone to keep going (at least in the "I better run faster than that Journey girl" sort of way.)
I'm at work now. One of our vendors brought in bagels, which happens to be the most amazing thing ever for the day before a race. I've had two, but I'm kind of bageled out at the moment. Immediately after work, I'm going to get my packet. I'm supposed to try to meet up with Brooke but I really just want to get in and out.... and maybe buy a 26.2 sticker to promptly apply to my car post-race tomorrow. Speaking of post-race, it's also free Rita's Day so I plan on definitely hitting that up. It will be an amazing post-race treat.
So far, the only thing that hasn't gone my way is that Maryland game is tonight at 9:40. I want to be in bed by 10, so I won't get to watch it. Watching sports gets me really wound up, so I know it's a bad idea to try to watch it before I go to bed. I'll have enough going through my head without the Terps adding to the excitement.
Wish me luck :)
Friday, March 19, 2010
Monday, March 8, 2010
Musings on the gym...
(FYI, I wrote this last week but am just getting to posting now)
The past three weeks, all of my work outs (save the long-runs) have been done at the local county Rec Center. I like the gym, it’s small, family oriented and I never have to worry about a gaggle of frat guys hogging the weights when I want to do my reps of 10 lb bicep curls. I do get frustrated on the treadmills, though. There are 9 in the gym and usually a few are free, but I always worry that they’ll fill up and I’ll get kicked off after my half-hour time limit. (Even my shortest runs are at least 4 miles, which at a recovery pace takes me about 35-40 minutes. Yesterday, during a 9 mile sprit work out, I was on for about 80.) Getting kicked off has yet to happen, and I question whether the teenage guy supervising would actually ask me to get off, but I try to be accommodating all the same. This fear, as a result, has caused me to loathe treadmill walkers. Training for a marathon, I need to run. Burning a few calories by walking could be done just as easily on an elliptical. Recently, as I was nearing my 30 minute limit, I noticed that all of the treadmills were taken. I still had another mile to go and worried that I wouldn’t be able to get it in. Luckily, the woman next to me got off and a man in khaki shorts hopped on. I’m really glad I didn’t get off for him, I would have been really angry that my precious treadmill spot had gone to a guy who looked like he was about to go out for a Sunday drive. I finished my mile and went to stretch, and saw him over there only a few minutes later. Ugg, I hate to sound elitist, but I really feel like I need to be on a treadmill more than him and others like that.
Alternately, when I see high school girls rock the elliptical it takes me back to my days at the Towson Y. I spent hours there with my friends, doing cardio, lifting weights and kicking imaginary adolescent boy butt during cardio-kick classes. I remember one middle-aged man asking my friend Abbie and I what we were training for. Our response? Prom. Part of me wants to reach out and make sure these girls are killing themselves at the gym to be skinny, but the other part applauds their healthy lifestyle and working in exercise now. I remember meticulously counting calories and not getting off of a machine until I hit a certain amount. I have a vivid image of one of my classmates hopping on an elliptical and asking “so if I burn 3500 calories, that’s a pound, right?” My gym motivation has changed since from being purely aesthetic to being physiologically sound for sports or an event, but those ideas have yet to leave me.
I’ve been a gym rat (or when I don’t belong to a gym, a running fiend) for at least 8 years now for various reasons (losing weight, training for sports, training for races) and I can’t imagine functioning without the calming effect a hard workout has on me. After a tough day at work, I can’t wait to go home and pound the pavement. Whenever I’m in a bad mood, I know that sweat and endorphins will make me feel a whole lot better than a tube of chocolate chip cookie dough.
Monday, March 1, 2010
25 Mile Weekend
My final long run was this Saturday, logging 22 miles.
As suggested, I attempted to simulate race day. After a packet pick up (for the Love the Run 5k) Friday night, I ate pasta with shrimp, and had a bowl of oatmeal before bed. I woke up and ate a PB&J sandwich (wheat bread, Polaner's strawberry and Skippy Natural creamy), drank orange PowerAde Zero, got dressed ate a banana then drank some more water during the drive to the park. With my fuel belt full of Gu and Fruit Punch PowerAde, I began my run at (ok around) 7, although I took the liberty of sleeping until 5:45, instead of the 5 am alarm I'll set for the morning of March 20.
I started at Theodore Roosevelt Island and followed the Mount Vernon Trail down past Alexandria. Early in the week, I had plotted another run around my neighborhood, so I could run in the street knowing that the sidewalks were still snow-covered. As the week progressed, I had a glimmer of hope I might be able to trail run. I spent some time Google-ing DCs trails and found encouraging reports for MVT. While there were a few snowy spots, overall it was really nice. I had never been on the trail before, but got to run by a lot of my favorite things: the airport, the Metro, the Potomac River, the Wilson bridge. I saw some rowers and a lady with two Golden Retrievers playing fetch in the river. I visited Old Town Alexandria for the first time and admired how nice the GW Parkway is (and am now slightly regretting not signing up for the GW Parkway 10 miler). My turn around point was past Alexandria at Belle Haven. About 6 miles from the end, I could begin to see the Washington Monument. Knowing it was about a mile ahead of where I would finish, I kept it as my focus. I really do love DC, with the water, the monuments, the history, so I'm confident that I made the right decision in making it my first full marathon. I'm trying to mentally prepare myself, and having lots of good things to look at a little goals along the way really helps.
The weather finally cooperated with me. The 50 mph gusts from Friday had dissipated, the clouds parted and I had a bright, sunny happy day to run. The weather was in the low 30s when I started and climbed to the low 40s during the day. I can only hope i will get as amazing weather on race day.
My recovery Saturday was watching Maryland beat Virginia Tech in double OT. I met Grace and Tacy out and upon arriving, found out the game was delayed due to a watermain break. A beer truck backed over a fire hydrant causing all sort of chaos in Blacksburg. So VT. We ate bar food, and I'm glad that I gave up drinking until my race, because I definitely would have drank a lot. My rationale for not drinking is as follows:
My long runs are on Saturdays, so to get the most out of them, I can't drink on Fridays. Then, while my body is recovering, the last thing I should do is poison it with more alcohol. I'm also not the type of person that enjoys having one of two drinks. What's the point of all of those calories if I'm not getting drunk? I might as well drink a Diet Coke or even water... and that's what I have been doing. It's a lot cheaper, and a lot healthier.
Sunday morning, Matt and I ran the Love the One Your With 5k as a couple. Hannah and KB, Rob and Kaitlin and Zach and Diane ran also. Matt and I were the second couple to finish, behind Hannah and KB. While we didn't meet our goal (finish is less than 30 minutes, our time was 30:08, which is actually a PR for me) and we did get beat by both a 6 year old and a 70 year old, I had a lot of fun. It was fun to run and share something like a race with Matt. Plus it gave me an excuse to get crafty and I like the race tshirt (I'm wearing it now, actually.) I felt much better than I thought I would. My calves were a little tight, but nothing that slowed me down during a leisurely 5k. It seemed so short. I also would like to run a 5k for real. The only other one I've ever done was during sophomore year of high school. I'm pretty sure I finished with 9:55 miles or something like that. I'm interested to see how fast I can actually do it, I'm thinking less than 23 minutes.
All in all, I logged 25 total miles this weekend, which is the perfect way to enter my taper. I'm so excited to get to back off on the miles and focus on other things in my life, such as my Peep Diorama and upcoming road trip to South Carolina.
As suggested, I attempted to simulate race day. After a packet pick up (for the Love the Run 5k) Friday night, I ate pasta with shrimp, and had a bowl of oatmeal before bed. I woke up and ate a PB&J sandwich (wheat bread, Polaner's strawberry and Skippy Natural creamy), drank orange PowerAde Zero, got dressed ate a banana then drank some more water during the drive to the park. With my fuel belt full of Gu and Fruit Punch PowerAde, I began my run at (ok around) 7, although I took the liberty of sleeping until 5:45, instead of the 5 am alarm I'll set for the morning of March 20.
I started at Theodore Roosevelt Island and followed the Mount Vernon Trail down past Alexandria. Early in the week, I had plotted another run around my neighborhood, so I could run in the street knowing that the sidewalks were still snow-covered. As the week progressed, I had a glimmer of hope I might be able to trail run. I spent some time Google-ing DCs trails and found encouraging reports for MVT. While there were a few snowy spots, overall it was really nice. I had never been on the trail before, but got to run by a lot of my favorite things: the airport, the Metro, the Potomac River, the Wilson bridge. I saw some rowers and a lady with two Golden Retrievers playing fetch in the river. I visited Old Town Alexandria for the first time and admired how nice the GW Parkway is (and am now slightly regretting not signing up for the GW Parkway 10 miler). My turn around point was past Alexandria at Belle Haven. About 6 miles from the end, I could begin to see the Washington Monument. Knowing it was about a mile ahead of where I would finish, I kept it as my focus. I really do love DC, with the water, the monuments, the history, so I'm confident that I made the right decision in making it my first full marathon. I'm trying to mentally prepare myself, and having lots of good things to look at a little goals along the way really helps.
The weather finally cooperated with me. The 50 mph gusts from Friday had dissipated, the clouds parted and I had a bright, sunny happy day to run. The weather was in the low 30s when I started and climbed to the low 40s during the day. I can only hope i will get as amazing weather on race day.
My recovery Saturday was watching Maryland beat Virginia Tech in double OT. I met Grace and Tacy out and upon arriving, found out the game was delayed due to a watermain break. A beer truck backed over a fire hydrant causing all sort of chaos in Blacksburg. So VT. We ate bar food, and I'm glad that I gave up drinking until my race, because I definitely would have drank a lot. My rationale for not drinking is as follows:
My long runs are on Saturdays, so to get the most out of them, I can't drink on Fridays. Then, while my body is recovering, the last thing I should do is poison it with more alcohol. I'm also not the type of person that enjoys having one of two drinks. What's the point of all of those calories if I'm not getting drunk? I might as well drink a Diet Coke or even water... and that's what I have been doing. It's a lot cheaper, and a lot healthier.
Sunday morning, Matt and I ran the Love the One Your With 5k as a couple. Hannah and KB, Rob and Kaitlin and Zach and Diane ran also. Matt and I were the second couple to finish, behind Hannah and KB. While we didn't meet our goal (finish is less than 30 minutes, our time was 30:08, which is actually a PR for me) and we did get beat by both a 6 year old and a 70 year old, I had a lot of fun. It was fun to run and share something like a race with Matt. Plus it gave me an excuse to get crafty and I like the race tshirt (I'm wearing it now, actually.) I felt much better than I thought I would. My calves were a little tight, but nothing that slowed me down during a leisurely 5k. It seemed so short. I also would like to run a 5k for real. The only other one I've ever done was during sophomore year of high school. I'm pretty sure I finished with 9:55 miles or something like that. I'm interested to see how fast I can actually do it, I'm thinking less than 23 minutes.
All in all, I logged 25 total miles this weekend, which is the perfect way to enter my taper. I'm so excited to get to back off on the miles and focus on other things in my life, such as my Peep Diorama and upcoming road trip to South Carolina.
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