Hope I Didn't Just Run My Marathon!

Happy Anniversary Baby!

Before I write today's post, many of you know today is Michael's & my anniversary.  I love this woman ... and I'm very lucky that she's in my life.  She deserves an award for putting up with me!  She could obviously do a lot better ... but I'm thankful for her.  I love you sweetie!

Speaking of Michael ... she wanted me to let you know that she is having an AWESOME GIVE AWAY on her blog           Slowly Tri-ing.  I'm not a huge fan of give aways ... but she has a ton of stuff in this one!  Our dog Jack even included a few items I think ... please check it out if you have a few minutes.

Next Saturday, I'll be running the Scheels Fargo Marathon in Fargo, North Dakota!  I'm really excited, but there are of course a few things running through my mind about what will hopefully be my 11th marathon completed. 

Back in December I planned out my race year and decided to do 10 marathons in 2011.  I had targeted Fargo for a PR because it is sooooooo flat ... literally the elevation changes like 50 ft twice and that's it!  But at this point I don't think I'm ready to PR again.  I failed to realize when I scheduled it that it was so close to the Boston Marathon.  And even though I feel healthier than I have in a long time, I just don't know if I have it in me next weekend ... but we'll see.  It should be awesome regardless of my time!

I ran 20 miles today.  Now that's a little bit of an issue for two reasons.  I've only ran 20 miles the week before a marathon once before - but today was a little faster than I would have liked.  And that's the potential issue.  I just kept cruising along at a comfortable speed and ended with 20 miles at 7:45/pace.  That's not burning up the track or anything, but I probably should have taken it slower, maybe closer to 8:00/pace the week before a marathon.  So it'll be interesting to see how my body responds next weekend.

But I didn't do this by accident.  Sometimes I feel like I taper too much, and too long before a race.  It amazes me that during a training cycle I can go out and put up a 22, 23, or 24 miler 10 seconds below my PR, but then on race day - after 1 or 2 weeks of tapering, just not respond like I want to.  So for this race, I am treating it like a training cycle.  I ran 70 miles last week and this week I'll probably do about 55 including the race.  I'll also workout as usual, but probably go a little lighter with less reps.  If I run well, this might become my standard. 

I you are running 1 or 2 marathons a year with 14-16 week training cycles, and are not used to the running load - your body probably needs the break during taper.  But I feel like I'm absorbing the miles just fine, and I'm probably more in-tune with my body than some people.  Tapering seems to make me soft and I've never really felt like I got everything out of it I should.  But that being said, I hope I didn't use up all of my performance on today's run ... we'll see I guess!
... be great today!