It's now two days after I completed my second marathon (Rochester, NY '09 and Philadelphia '10) and I have a myriad of thoughts spinning through my head, but I think mostly I am starting to feel more and more disappointed with my result. Yes, I know that, I set a new PR by nearly 45 minutes (Rochester was 5:20:04 and Philly was 4:36:44), but I had a really rough last 6 miles were I had to run/walk to finish and those miles were not enjoyable. Plus, I didn't meet my "A" goal which was a sub 4:30:00 time.
So the question is how do I get rid of this negativity?
There are some ways to combat the disappointment: First to remind myself that: a) I finished a marathon and b) I set a new PR by almost 45 minutes. c) did all of this while teaching full time and starting a family in May d) I have dropped 10 pounds and am in the best shape of my life. So, I am trying to stop every time I have a feeling of disappointment and remind myself of these things. I also need to look forward and know that I will improve.
The second way to deal with the negative thoughts is to focus on the next race. I have already picked my next marathon, the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon on 5/1/2011. I chose this race because my wife's family lives in the city and I have heard it is a "must run" in terms of marathons.
And focusing on the future means constructing a better training plan and using that plan to run faster and finishing strong. Everything I have read says that my miles per week (mpw) are on the low side at 25-30 miles a week. So, the new plan will start with a base of 30 miles and work up to 50 miles during the peak weeks of training. Adding more tempo runs and "fast finish runs" to my training schedule should also help a great deal. It is my belief that if I can up the mpw, work on speed, and focus on a stronger finish I should be able to break through the 4:30:00 barrier and finish the next marathon feeling strong.
I will remind myself that Philly was a success and a race I can be proud of, while starting to focus on OKC this spring.
I plan to update the blog as much as I can with entries on training, thoughts on life while training, product reviews and any useful/cool articles I find. Plus, if I do any smaller races during my training I will do some race reviews as well
A very long time ago when i was very thin and running, we lifted weights as well. I can't remember the workout, but I'll find it for you - our coach stressed teh importance of weight work combined to the running as a way to build endurance. Additionally, are you doing interval training?
ReplyDeleteDuane... I am adding more strength training in this go around and speed work/ interval training has always been a big part of my running.
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