Last long run
08SeptLongRun, originally uploaded by Peru Tha Damaja.
Not exactly the last, but after yesterday I officially start my taper before the Portland marathon which is less than a month away. I feel like I’ve learned a million things training for this marathon and am really, really excited for it now.
Yesterday’s run felt great. Some of the guys who commonly set the pace for the group I run with were out and most of us were aiming for 20 so we took the run a little more leisurely than usual. At least it felt that way to me, but I’m also uncommonly enthusiastic.
In the early long runs I think I had a combination of things working against me. First, I didn’t have the foundation of strength or conditioning I really needed to go the distance. But more importantly, I think, I didn’t have the confidence. The idea of going out and running for over an hour when I hadn’t done that in years was kind of intimidating. The distances seemed really far and I just thought “I’m not in shape to do this.” Both might have been true but after a couple weeks going out on the long runs and after busting my ass and delivering a couple strong time trials, I gained some strength and a lot of confidence.
From here, I know I can still grow a lot. I don’t have the foundation of running that I really wish I had. The typical marathon training program includes a lot of tempo runs toward the beginning of the cycle and I didn’t do most of these at all and when I started I wasn’t doing them right (I was running way too slow because that’s either as fast as I could run or it’s all the faster I thought I should run because I hadn’t really applied myself and seen what I could do). I’m also in great cardiovascular shape and have lost something like 20 pounds since last the start of the year but still not near an optimal body composition that would let me run my best races. I’m OK with all of this but it’s just exciting to know there’s a lot to go in my “career.”
Anyways, Saturday’s 20 miler was great and I turned into almost 24 miles. Steve said he was aiming for three and a half hours of running and suggested that though you probably won’t do the long run at your desired marathon pace, it’s worth doing a training run that gets you moving for something close to your desired marathon time. This seemed like a fine idea to me, so I went out and still felt strong at the finish so I picked up the pace a tiny bit for the last three or four miles and (it turns out) added some challenge in the way of elevation gain! It feels like incredible progress since I joined <a href=”http://www.runchuckit.com/”>ChuckIt</a> less than three months ago.
I’m kind of sad to start the taper, but I’m really excited that the race is so near and probably can see that the day might come where I’d look forward to the start of the taper. But I’m not quite there yet, so I’ll cherish next Saturday’s 15 miler and the 12 miler after that.