Fit Friday! Tomorrow is Race Day!
Tomorrow is race day. It came so quickly! Agh!! One of my 2015 goals is to run more races to help me get rid of pre-race jitters and be more comfortable under the pressure. I do not feel very prepared for this race - not because I've stopped training or didn't recover from my previous race, I just didn't get to go through the entire training process again.
Normally, my races are pretty well spaced out. Averaging 4 races a year allows me 12 weeks of a full training schedule to follow (Have I mentioned I'm slightly OCD?). Mentally, I feel that because I haven't gone through the entire training regimen, I'm not ready. It will be interesting to see if I let my mind get me a PR, or leave me at the back of the pack.
This week I really focused on switching up my workouts and beginning to incorporate workouts that will be crucial to my marathon training plan:
Saturday Long Run: I wanted to get in at least 10 miles as the only long run I'd have before race day. I was doing fine until mile 8, and then my belly was not happy with me. I was stopping every 10 feet because of how much pain I was in. This is my biggest fear with the marathon - how my stomach is going to react. I could eat the same thing before every race, and my belly would act completely crazy in one race, and fine in the next. What's up with that?? I eat tons of veggies and fruit and flax and things that really keep your digestive track moving - this is a problem! How do I figure how to not let that banana and PB ruin me at mile 9?
Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday Gym & Cross Training: After the way last week's leg workout hurt me, I wanted to put some focus back on my upper body and core. I did some lunges in Body Works on Sunday, but nothing crazy. I worked shoulders, abs, back and arms on the other days. I'm trying to get comfortable with increasing my weight. The gym has 5 lbs, 7.5 lbs and 10 lbs. I went up to 10 lbs on my biceps, but lowered my reps. I also made it to Spin on Tuesday night!
Monday, Wednesday, Thursday Run (AND HILLS!!): I had a great run on Monday with an average pace of 7:39. I'd love to work up to getting a 10K in at 7:30 pace. I finally incorporated some hill training and did 7 quarter mile repeats with a 1.5 mile warm up and 1.5 mile cool down. I raced up the hill for the first 3, with the last 4 focused on maintaining an under 9 minute mile pace. It was very uncomfortable, but I can tell I need work because of how winded I was. My Thursday evening run was slower with race day right around the corner.
I don't feel as nervous as I normally would before a race even though I didn't go through my preparation process. I care a little bit less about PRing, and more about just completing a long run. Needless to say, I'm looking forward to it. Look for a race recap in the next few days!
J
