Thursday, September 09, 2010

3 marathons, chased with a half

This post is meant to light a fire under my running ass. That is, I've gone through the summer merrily hitting (and occasionally skipping) my runs without a real target at the end of this training cycle. I wanted this fall to be about a celebration of running and I know once the races are upon me, I'll have an absolutely amazing time.

But I'm in total uncharted territory this fall. This is my racing season and for once I don't have a lofty time goal. The goal is a lot different, but no less daunting.

Part of me wanted to complete my fall with an insane-ish (I know, others have done more) four marathons in four weeks. I even thought I'd put a four marathons in four weeks all under four hours. It would start with the Toronto Marathon, followed by two others before I toed the line at the start of the New York City Marathon. That would have been epic and so much fun.

But then I thought maybe it was a little too much. And then an opportunity presented itself.

Running buddy Fran, who has now been a pace bunny for quite a few raaces, passed my name on to the Running Room and a month later, I just sent in my form to be the 1:45 pacer for the Niagara Falls International Marathon half. That's 5 minute kilometres and I'm raring to start getting that pace down in muscle memory.

So with that in mind, I still have an insane four races in four weeks. Since I respect distance running, I've adjusted my goals.

Week 1: Toronto Marathon, Oct. 17: Run a 3:30 or slower. I call this a relatively conservative marathon but right for the training I've put in. If I have an amazing next 5 weeks, I will adjust faster like a 3:20 but no 3:15 or faster for me this fall.

Week 2: Niagara Falls half, Oct 24: Pace the 1:45s and do my best to run consistent 5 minutes. I can't screw this one up with a blow-up on the course the week before that. If there is an A goal race, this is it.

Week 3: Marine Corps Marathon, Oct 31: Like last year, start off at a 3:45 to 3:50 pace and see how things go. In other words, start it off like a LSD run. Have an absolute blast for a course I've already done three times. (And it's Halloween!)

Week 4: New York City Marathon, Nov. 7: Do it in under four. If slower, who the hell cares, I'll stay on the course for as long as I can. Soak it up. It could be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I can not wait for this.

Nov 8. take a break from running for a few days, then plan for a real training winter cause I think I'm signing up for a big race in April.

5 comments:

Q said...

Oh the Toronto Marathon!!! I want to run the half.

Q said...

I just caught your last comment about big race in April. Is it...? The one....??? Awesome!!!

Unknown said...

Good luck with the challenge. Will be interesting to see how you cope with the recovery periods. Eat and sleep, great!
Andy
www.ultrarunning.com.au

Boris T said...

Good luck with the challenge, am rooting for ya.

zbsports said...

Good luck to your runs, looking forward for you good result.