It is October 30th. The race is two days away. Here are some thoughts and my goals for Saturday.
I finished last week with about 50 miles. It was on the low end of the plan for the week but I’m fine with it. I was still feeling pretty fatigued last week and tried to play it cautiously.
Finally, this week things have started to come around with the legs getting some pop and the race pace miles yesterday feeling pretty good. I’ve got an  easy 10K today and a 25-30 minute shake out planned Friday. This will give me 27-30 miles race week prior to Saturday. I should be ready Saturday.
Tapering is a weird thing…I’m to the point in it now where I can’t really tell what my legs feel like but I know come Saturday I’ll be good. I’ll be ready to get to the task at hand.
Task at hand. I keep coming back to this phrase. That’s really all Saturday is…it’s what all the miles this summer have been for. No matter what happened this week or two months ago or what the weather is like…I’m looking to do one thing on Saturday: race to the best of my ability on the day. I can do that. It’s that simple.
Want some numbers? Looking back since I loosely start ramping up for Monumental following the Mohican 50 in June this is what I got:
- 15 weeks, excluding race week
- 1,083 miles
- 72.22 per week...probably be a little higher without the Achilles flare up a couple weeks ago
- 2.5 pairs of shoes...I was working through some shoes when I started so it’s really two pairs this cycle but I’ll give half a pair from before
- Roughly 38.5 hours of running per month for the last four months.
- Snuck in a 101 miles in a 7 day period for the first time ever. Hello. 100 miles.
Goals for Saturday:
- A: 2:48
- B: 2:50
- C: PR..so faster then 2:54:27
Really I want that sub 2:50. I was in shape for it last year at Chicago and just had a terrible race. Came back 3 weeks later and PR’d Monumental…that is the 2:54:27. I feel ready again. Mileage and workouts have been good. You just never know. One thing that I think would be cool is if I can run a 2:49:38 or faster that will be a full 60 minutes faster then my first marathon back in June 2008 with Lindsey in San Diego.
As I’m wrting this Scott texted me something that I think is reallly pretty accurate that sums up tapering and racing. “It’s always hard to know what shape you’re in till you do it.” It’s so true. I feel in shape but I guess we will find out Saturday morning.
About time to get to the task at end. Happy running everyone! Remember everyone has the same weather. All you can do is work with the cards you are dealt.
Good luck Saturday. Enjoy it. This is the fun part. Are you ready?