The Itch is starting to set in.
In spite of being a far cry from my peak, I still ran 61 miles in the last 7 days. I'm only a week an a half a way from the marathon. I want to run more - I'm hungry today, but I need to cut back. I'm gonna have to take the day off. I'd like to take 2 days off, but I don't think that'll happen. I'm itching like a crack addict right now.
Irrational behavior begins in the marathon taper. I've mentioned this in the past, with Boston. A marathoner will start obsession about his race... and pretty much anything that revolves around it. So far this week I've been good, but the itch will start soon enough. The fact that I'm even writing about this means it's already begun.
I'll soon wind up being completely useless at work... spending the entire day building excel models that try to give me a mile-by-mile strategy... Of course, the weather could fuck that up so I'll have to spend hours staring at 5 different internet weather sites. Obsessing about everything. I'll start shopping for gear that I don't need. I'll probably make some sort of big purchase (actually, I already did - I bought Sarah a sweet camera last week)... so I'll make another one. I also attempted to buy some Vibram Five-Fingers. Those are very cool and I think could be a useful too - but they certainly won't help my taper. Someday. Probably won't work well going into the winter either though...? WTF? Why would I even look at them? Fortunately, they were out of stock in my size. This will go on and on and on. I'm gonna go stir crazy.
Anyway, in the last week I've had a few solid runs:
Last Saturday's long run was 17 miles w/ about 12 at race pace'ish. I'm not really sure the actual pace because I didn't have markers. It felt smooth and fast. Some of it was probably faster than race pace.
Monday night tempo was at race pace again. 8 miles worth. The temperature has finally started to drop a little, so it made for a very pleasant run... minus the 20-30mph winds from every direction. It was pretty much a futile effort. My 1/2 mile splits were anywhere from 2:50's to 3:20's. I hammered the last mile at 5:40 though... and into the wind. So much for knowing what race pace under ideal conditions feels like.
Wednesday night's speed - absolutely perfect marathon weather!! (See I'm obsessing about this!) 5x 3x200 cut-downs. It was all about quick feet, a smooth stride, and pushing the pace... but not draining myself too much. The last 200 was at 30 seconds. It left me wanting more. Hence, I'm itching today.
Over the next week, it'll be a handful of easy runs, probably 1 more shorter goal-pace run (just to wake my legs up a bit), and 1 more short distance track workout next Wednesday (the 1600 should be interesting).
In the mean time, my ADHD and OCD is clearly taking over.
In spite of being a far cry from my peak, I still ran 61 miles in the last 7 days. I'm only a week an a half a way from the marathon. I want to run more - I'm hungry today, but I need to cut back. I'm gonna have to take the day off. I'd like to take 2 days off, but I don't think that'll happen. I'm itching like a crack addict right now.
Irrational behavior begins in the marathon taper. I've mentioned this in the past, with Boston. A marathoner will start obsession about his race... and pretty much anything that revolves around it. So far this week I've been good, but the itch will start soon enough. The fact that I'm even writing about this means it's already begun.
I'll soon wind up being completely useless at work... spending the entire day building excel models that try to give me a mile-by-mile strategy... Of course, the weather could fuck that up so I'll have to spend hours staring at 5 different internet weather sites. Obsessing about everything. I'll start shopping for gear that I don't need. I'll probably make some sort of big purchase (actually, I already did - I bought Sarah a sweet camera last week)... so I'll make another one. I also attempted to buy some Vibram Five-Fingers. Those are very cool and I think could be a useful too - but they certainly won't help my taper. Someday. Probably won't work well going into the winter either though...? WTF? Why would I even look at them? Fortunately, they were out of stock in my size. This will go on and on and on. I'm gonna go stir crazy.
Anyway, in the last week I've had a few solid runs:
Last Saturday's long run was 17 miles w/ about 12 at race pace'ish. I'm not really sure the actual pace because I didn't have markers. It felt smooth and fast. Some of it was probably faster than race pace.
Monday night tempo was at race pace again. 8 miles worth. The temperature has finally started to drop a little, so it made for a very pleasant run... minus the 20-30mph winds from every direction. It was pretty much a futile effort. My 1/2 mile splits were anywhere from 2:50's to 3:20's. I hammered the last mile at 5:40 though... and into the wind. So much for knowing what race pace under ideal conditions feels like.
Wednesday night's speed - absolutely perfect marathon weather!! (See I'm obsessing about this!) 5x 3x200 cut-downs. It was all about quick feet, a smooth stride, and pushing the pace... but not draining myself too much. The last 200 was at 30 seconds. It left me wanting more. Hence, I'm itching today.
Over the next week, it'll be a handful of easy runs, probably 1 more shorter goal-pace run (just to wake my legs up a bit), and 1 more short distance track workout next Wednesday (the 1600 should be interesting).
In the mean time, my ADHD and OCD is clearly taking over.
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