So here I am gearing up for my last long run tomorrow. I’ve seem to have turned a corner at least mentally and have been able to remain fairly focused this last couple of weeks. I’ve gone into line runs including a 20 miler which I did around the city of Worcester for the first time. Physically I feel pretty good. I was having some pain in my quad/periformis/butt which never seem to develop into anything much worth *knock on wood* until yesterday, which I’ll explain, I feel pretty prepared and able to do the marathon aiming towards probably staying with the 3:35 crew and hoping that I could hold on and beat the 3:40 by enough time. I know a lot still depended on the weather of the day how I felt and other things that are in my control and yet out of my control but I feel like I put in the mileage this time. I was/am running about 10 to 15 more miles per week and I did previously which I hope will literally carry me through.
Now you will notice that I said I felt prepared up until yesterday And the reason for that caveat is because they just change the Boston qualifying time to make them five minutes faster. What that means is now I have to run at 3:35 where is before you never know. There may have been some leeway. Of course this year everyone had to beat it by 4:52 so not much leeway. What that means is in reality I probably had to run to 3:35 but mentally I didn’t have to focus on that. Now I must do that or else I don’t even have a chance. That means beating my last marathon by 10 minutes. Actually more than 10 minutes. To me although I train for it now it seems like a lot and a giant hurdle.
I suppose the one nice thing about this is that discretion is now gone. I thought to put myself in the pocket with the 335 people but now that’s where I have to be. I’m going to have to work to keep that pace and I have that finishing touch and if it’s not going to happen that’s the end of it. Before if it wasn’t going to happen either 335 I feel like I’m mentally would have dropped back a bit and hope that maybe this year is the year that the qualifying times are a little bit slower than that what they used to be. But now that is not the case. So I suppose in some ways it is a good thing. It tells me what I have to do. Which is to work and remember that I put in the time and the energy and the focus and hope that this time it is enough. And if it isn’t, then it isn’t, and that is what it is.
Despite the various up and downs I’ve seem to possess this summer in particular I do feel like I’ve put in about the maximum I can put into this right now. Of course I could have done better with the cross training and probably better with this be workouts and hitting the mileage but there is a part of me that wonders if I really could. This year I attacked the Marathon knowing I needed to put in more time and I have. I hope that it is enough but I am not sure and the uncertainty is what causes me the anxiety and the frustration at this change in the times however there is nothing I can do for it and it is too late to change any of my game plan and I just have to put my head down focus and keep steady.
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