Monday, September 25, 2006

Training Dilemma

OK, so my long run this week is planned for 24 miles. I did 20 this week, I planned 20 miles, 24 miles, then 20 miles for the last 3 long runs…this week is going to be tough as I have a company picnic at an amusement park near me on Saturday, I can probably wait on going there till 12, but that still means getting up earlier than I’m happy with and getting a lot of miles before walking at an amusement park…Sunday won’t work for it either because I’m going to watch the Twin Cities Marathon and I doubt I’d get it in after watching that (although I might try)…I considered just doing 16-20 this week and doing the 24 the next week but that’s 3 weeks before my marathon and I’m not sure if doing that many miles that far out would be good or not (I’m also considering just doing 18 for the last long run anyway). Decisions, decisions…

So for last week I got my 59 miles. Going into my final hard week of training I’m at 496 miles for training for this marathon at 5 weeks to go (officially 5 weeks from yesterday I’ll be running my marathon). I was at 538 with 5 weeks to go in my last marathon. I don’t know if the quality workouts have been there, but I have had two half marathon PRs and a predictor has me running a 3:39:45 based on my half, which I know isn’t the best half I could’ve ran. It’s leaving me too much anxiety and time to think. Last week I was having hamstring/ITB issues, at least it felt that way, right now it seems fine, I’m questioning workouts I have remaining and what more I might do…this week will be my highest mileage week ever with about 70 planned, although I might not do all of that mileage, I’ll hit at least 65 though, unless something unforseen happens…It’s way too early to start fretting now!! My other fear is my weight, I was thinking I only had 4 weeks left to lose, but regardless weight this morning is 6.6 pounds heavier than I want to carry on marathon day. So time to focus on what I’m eating and get the junk out of my diet. I need something to stop me!! Where is my self control…I was doing well maintaining about 4 pounds above what I wanted to weigh, that was going to be easy to lose (at least in theory)…ughh…

4 comments:

Ginger Breadman said...

wow, so many thoughts. that marathon anxiety is coming on strong. be careful losing any weight while your are doing such high mileage - it'll weaken your strength some. wait til after the marathon to lose it. as for the long run mileage - do what feels right - it's all relative when you look at it from an outsider perspective. anything between 18 and 24 is a good long run and gets your body ready for a marathon, and better to be smart than overstress your hamstrings and ITB. sorry, i'm being way on the conservative side - just don't want you to do something drastic and waste all those miles of training you've put in.

MNFirefly said...

Don't stress about the weight. The scale has not bugged for me even though people has told me that I look skinner. Whatever!

It will lots of fun on Sunday watching the TCM.

Danielle said...

Ah, but the weight loss is part of the plan for my run...for every pound lighter that's a slightly faster time I can put up because I'm carrying less bulk. I don't care so much about the loss for the way I look, it's strictly for my run.

Yeah, so many decisions to make and I'm so not a good decision maker!!

Kurt said...

You look good and 4 lbs will not make a big difference when you set your BQ race at MCM.

Good training is better than just training. Your training has been more focused, smarter and it shows in the PR's.

Your doing great. Now fly me away from work!