….and My Story Runs On….
Saturday 2/1, I will run my 5th marathon. Remember, I swore that I would never run a half marathon but apparently I’m addicted to running now.
I did the Pf Changs Rock N Roll marathon a few weeks ago with my friends and blogged about it here.
Saturday’s Sedona Marathon is for me, so to speak. Ironically it’s just another training run before my first 50K race on 2/22. I already had it in my head that it might take me 6 hours to complete it due to the hills. I remember when I did the half last year, it was longer than my “regular” time.
But today, I looked up my half marathon time from last year (2:30) and my PR on my last full marathon was 5:12 (The Lost Dutchman last year which is also hilly but doesn’t have the elevation of Sedona).
So now I’m trying to come up with a game plan for Sunday and here it goes:
- I’ve already been carbing up and drinking lots of water to get hydrated.
- I’m taking the 2 days before the race off of running to rest my legs and body for Sunday.
- I’ve been doing a little extra stretching, foam rolling and leg drains.
- I’ll listen to my new hypnosis session from Dr. John at Peak Performance Online a few times.
- My new goal now (after reviewing my stats from last year) is have a PR at this race, which means at least 5:11. I hesitate to put this in writing however between all the trail running and conditioning I’ve been doing in the last year, I feel it’s a realistic goal. I also found out that half the course is dirt which I’m very excited about it!
- Last but not least, even though I have that goal, I’m detached from the outcome. This is a skill I learned through my 7 Laws of Spiritual Success meditations. The Law of Detachment basically means that I’m not attached to this goal. I want to achieve it but by allowing myself to accept uncertainty in this situation, I won’t “worry” about it and have that negative energy weighing me down.
So, I’m heading up to Sedona with my friends and boyfriend today.
Tomorrow I’ll focus on my ChiRunning technique (use my app if I need some help so I don’t have to think about my Form Focuses), and have music available if necessary but I know the gorgeous views will keep me occupied.
Before I started this blog, I googled quotes on “execution”. Love this one from Dr. Wayne Dyer; it’s perfect for Saturday and really any other situation in life as he says:
Great quote to apply to anything in life!
What do you do when you are getting ready for a race? How do you prepare mentally?
From My Running Story to Yours….
(if you feel inspired to share your comments, do so below…I want to hear your story too!)
Not certain about this but we will see how you make out and how it impacts your attaining your prime goal. Hopefully you’ll have done the right thing
Just found out that I PR’d my marathon time by 13 minutes and finished that course with a 4:58:59 🙂 I’ll be blogging about it later…my GPS died at mile 10 so I went by how I felt mostly and I finished strong…feeling pretty proud right now 😉
Congrats on your “best time” (no such thing as a P.R. on a road course). Based on your Half times when you were serious, this is where you SHOULD be and you will get faster. Losing your GPS was an extremely positive thing! Watches put pressure on your brain, whether you think so or not. My 1:32:45 best time on a brutal half course was on a day when I lost my timing at mile 3. No clue, no pressure, no over-compensating, just ran the best I could. You never need a GPS on a certified course since splits are professionally marked. My advice? Buy a cheap battery watch with a stopwatch and splits (if you need this info) and leave the rechargeable GPS at home for training.
Couldn’t agree with you more about leaving the GPS at home…it’s the 2nd race I do without one (one intentionally) and I had great races both times…this may become a strategy for me going forward…I do like to see my splits though and you don’t always get that info…I supposed I could just hide the GPS and not look at it too 😉
Go with the cheap Timex vintage ironman for splits. It’ll cost less than the “splash paint” run, you won’t have to recharge it, and you won’t waste a shirt.