So it's a little bit mental. And physical. OMG.

As best I can tell, I was supposed to run today's 10 mile long run 60-75 seconds above my 10K pace.  That means I was supposed to run today at about 8 min/miles or 8:15 miles.  Huh?  I've only once eecked out a sub 8 min/mile 10 mile race.  And my legs are way trashed from the week of training!  Secondly, for the first time ever I felt like i needed one of those Garmin thingies.  I DON'T WANT ONE but I feel like it would be really helpful.  Since I don't have one I took a little detour to Charlestown HS during my run to do a few laps on the track and check out my pace.  I did three laps at 2 min/lap exactly.  It wasn't effortless.  But I did it.  And then things decompensated.

I was so hungry when I woke up that I ate a full breakfast so I had to wait a couple of hours to run so it was hot by the time I headed out at 10 AM.  My route got screwed up b/c of some 4th of July festivity detours but no big.  My legs were just so heavy and there is no way I maintained an 8 min/mile pace.  No way.  I would get to stoplights and be like SWEET!  REST TIME!  I was hoping the drawbridge was up so I would have to wait (it wasn't).  Physically I am pretty beat up.  I promised myself if I sucked it up I could enjoy a lovely taper next week for my tri.  I wasn't planning on tapering much, if at all, but I will clearly be useless at the race if I don't rest beforehand.  So while I was mentally encouraging my body to please try and run faster, I was also mentally shocked.  WOW, I don't think I can BQ.  If I can't maintain a sub-BQ pace for 10 miles-tired legs or not-that does not bode well.  And honestly, could I even finish a marathon?  I haven't felt this exhausted running since...well...the last time I was marathon training :)  The feeling is exactly the same!  So I calmed those demons down by reminding myself that I am on week 1/16 of training and that I can complete a marathon (still, I'm surprised at how unconfident I am even though I've done it before).  But the non-BQness quality of my run is kind of bumming.  And let's not even talk abourt running form.  It was all about getting back home :)

In WONDERFUL NEWS....I can eat solid food this 4th of July!  I don't need to track down last year's post to know what it says.  I was depressed I was in Boston.  I was supposed to be in NC with my family but I couldn't travel there b/c of my broken jaw.  I was a mess and I felt awful and I dragged my trainer out of storage to bike.  It was my first workout since the accident on June 11, 2008.  It's hard to believe how much has changed in a year.  Interestingly, I had no idea how screwed up my teeth were.  That was a surprise I would find out once I started eating again.  Thank goodness for modern medicine and dentistry.  I LOVE healthcare.

Happy 4th of July everyone.  There is no other country in the world I would rather call home.  It's special celebrating in Boston where there is so much history.  And in a teary moment, I thought of my grandpa today.  He was a math guy and he always used the word googolplex.  I thought he was teasing me.  I wanted to use the word to say I am doing a googolplex times better this year than last.  I had to google it to spell it.  Honestly, I thought he made it up and I was googling it to confirm that.  Apparently it's a real number!  :)  I miss him.  But it's all good.

AND, an ice bath.  I finally got the tub cold enough.  I used a lot of ice (the people at the store probably thought I was having a phat party!).  I considered studying for the bar but I didn't think I could take ice bath bar studying.  That's a level of crazy I don't want to achieve.

Comments

[Danielle in Iowa]

Oh I can't do ice baths. I know they are good for me, but I just am not masochistic enough!

[Jon (was) in Michigan]

Ice bath is good. :)

Remember, just 10 minutes. any more than that an you are a sadist. Uh, and freezing cells and stuff that just don't need that much cold.

I'm really psyched you are going to BQ. I'm having trouble getting motivated to train for this marathon. Reading your stuff helps. :)

[Steve]

Great Post Audrey!! I hope you do well this year in your races, but more than anything try and enjoy the training. Races last a day, and training lasts a lifetime. Take Care!!!

[Stuart]

Hey it's only week 1 on a long journey...hang tough and it will get easy!

[Lesser is More]

I don't think I can ever bring myself to take an ice bath. Occasionally, I'll try taking a cold shower after a hard workout, but I cannot torture myself like that with actual ice.

Don't worry about the pace so much. You've been training hard for a while now, so your legs have a lot of built up fatigue in them. Now is the time to listen to your body. If you need to run slower to get through your training runs, do it. It is less stress on your body. If your body is ready to run a BQ time, you'll know it by race day after all the training is done and you've tapered. Right now, just focus on putting in the miles and feeling good during the long runs.

[Kim]

um, so i think you were on the track the same time i was - i was on my bike trainer! then i would hop off to run! that would be crazy if we were there at the same time.

[dcrainmaker]

I think there's a couple of things to think about with respect to BQ paces and this early in the season.

At this point you'd be going for building miles as opposed to training to nail out the paces. So given that it seems more than OK that you couldn't maintain a BQ pace for the full duration. Also, some weeks are bound to be off (I had some horrendous short and medium distance runs over the course of the months leading up to it, sprinkled in). Finally, heat and humidity are a huge factor. 10% is the minimum number to use as a performance hit for heat, and the majority of the fall marathons are much cooler, so you'll be good to go!