The last few weeks have been a fresh start. I’m halfway through training, and well, it’s not going exactly like I had hoped. I’m taking the challenge to see if I can train for a marathon in 8 weeks. Two months. I think I can handle it, I’m sure I can get back up to some pretty high mileage, but I have no idea if I’ll be able to break 20 miles before the big day. There’s no time to stress or worry about it now, I just need to take each day as its own. So how am I tackling this shortened training schedule?
New legs-I’m finally running pain free and more than a few times. My legs feel rested, and hopefully the pain is gone for good, or at least for the next couple of months. Being refreshed I think I’ll be ready to take on some heavy mileage, and quick too.
New location-I said my goodbyes to the West side and will now experience farm land, hills and no sidewalks. Now that I’m south (way south) of Cleveland, I won’t have flat land, runner friendly routes or the lake. But I’m taking this as an adventure. It will be good to not run the same place every day, and I’ll be getting in some good hills, something I haven’t done in a long time.
Week 8
Monday: Rest Day
Tuesday: 3 Miles
Wednesday: Rest Day
Thursday: Rest Day
Friday: Rest Day
Saturday: 2 Miles
Sunday: Rest Day
Total Miles: 5 Miles
Week 9
Monday: 4 Miles
Tuesday: Rest Day
Wednesday: Rest Day
Thursday: 3.6 Miles
Friday: Rest Day
Saturday: Rest Day
Sunday: 8 Miles
Total Miles: 16 Miles
I’m not going to give up. I paid to run a marathon, and I’m going to try. It won’t be my best effort, but I could probably do worse as well. The hardest part is that I feel I cheated myself. I let my injury go for so long that it ruined one of the biggest races of 2012. I took too much time to fix the problem, that I lost my endurance and my speed. I know that I still have some time to catch up, but I can probably run better. I’ve learned from the past that not following training like you should can hurt you, and it has.
But after being in Columbus this past weekend, how could I not want to give it all I have. I’m ready to try as hard as I can, just so I can get a chance to run through The Shoe….
- The Shoe
How do I make myself feel better about my attempt to short train a marathon? Find another one, find a marathon that I can truly dedicate 16 weeks to. Mentally and physically prepare for and be ready to take the bull by the horns. So I’m taking suggestions on 2013 marathons. Spring, fall, large small. Might as well open up the floor to all races. I refuse to let myself have another disappointing training schedule. Next year will be bigger and better.
Masher Runs 
I understand where you are coming from. In May, I injured my hamstring (didn’t know it was hamstring at the time, my knee felt ‘not right’) let myself have a week to recover and kept running. BIG mistake.
After 7 weeks of physical therapy, I am FINALLY starting a run/walk program to get back into running. Even though my event is only a half marathon, it is in a month. There is no way I can be prepared to run it, so I have just accepted that I will be adopting a run/walk strategy (heavy on the walking). I too don’t want to forego a race if I don’t have to. At least I will have a PR that I can totally crush in January when I have my second half scheduled!
pain free is the way to be! keep it up Chels, it’s not easy to be patient, but it’ll be worth it…and you might learn a lot about yourself in the process… 🙂
don’t feel like you cheated yourself! it’s all a learning experience. it’s hard to actually stop && admit, “WHOA SELF. YOU ARE INJURED.” as silly as that sounds, it IS hard!
glad to hear you are running pain free && are still going to toe the line!