Bold Moves

Short post today. It has taken me over 4 weeks to get my website renewed via my publisher. What a total journey of absolute frustration! But let’s not dwell on negative things. My website is now up and running again, so let’s get started!
I felt a bit lost after running the Chicago Marathon. I did PR but I didn’t hit the goal I had worked so hard for and I felt a bit discouraged. I ran a HM race in November and felt really strong, only 1 min off my PR for that distance and the course was much tougher than I expected it to be so that race did a lot to restore my confidence. Still, I didn’t have that sense of excitement that I usually have and I wondered if I was losing my desire to run long.
December is a slow month for me so I took the time to run without a spe cific reason. Nothing to train for so I ran just to run. No focus on distance or time, no focus on types of runs, just running. Felt good to relax. I found myself starting to think about my 2015 race schedule. I wanted to run more races but wasn’t sure what my goals should be. Had I peaked out at the 26.2 distance ref my time? Should my goal not be time specific anymore? That thought made me feel really sad for some reason, even though I’m not a speedy runner and don’t get to occupy the podium or walk away with AG (age group) awards. Despite all of that I have always worked hard to keep improving, keep striving for the PR.
I know a lot of people run races for the sheer fun of it and never think twice about their finish time. That’s really cool for them but I’m not wired that way. Pushing myself to improve is my way of having fun. But Chicago shook me up a bit; don’t get me wrong, it was an amazing experience and I want to run Chicago again. But my PR going into Chicago was on a hilly course so I really expected to crush that time and I didn’t. I PR’d by 20 seconds. Yes, I know….it’s still a PR so why am I all weird in the head? This has continued to needle at me until I read Greg McMillan’s book, Avoiding the Marathon Freak-Out. I used Greg’s customized training plan to get ready for Chicago so I knew his book would be interesting. So I downloaded it and read it on the way back from a business trip.
Wow! While I relearned many things I already knew, and affirmed many of the things I do prior to, during, and after a marathon, one thing really stuck out to me from his book. Mental readiness. I battled through a lingering calf injury up to the Peak Period (others call it Taper) and looking back, I think it affected my mental readiness. It made that doubt that creeps in normally to be a bit louder to deal with. When I started to struggle at mile 22, I gutted through it but mentally I wasn’t ready for it. I think I didn’t have my normal confidence because of the injury and on top of that, I may have falsely assumed that the marathon would be “easier” because it’s a flat course. My previous 3 marathons were on very hilly courses. True, that’s not an unreasonable assumption but I was also running harder so I should have expected to hit that hard part eventually. Reading Greg’s book shed light on my sense of feeling lost. I didn’t have to give up my goal to run faster! The older I get that will get harder, but I can still do it!
I feel re-energized! Thanks Greg! I am now TRULY ready to get started! Now to set my race schedule….