Ahh, Monday. You are a cruel cruel day, but after returning from a week off...well, let's just say I felt like someone hit me over the head with a baseball bat by 11am. No, I'm not complaining-I know I was quite lucky to have a week off, but....Monday still sucks. You with me? Good. Well, as I said, work was pretty nuts...we just got a sizable federal grant in the program I manage, which is completely awesome, but it will mean quite a bit work work and travel for the 90 day start up. I'm up for it....not a problem (except when my boss arranges 9am meetings in a town 300 miles away....yeah, we're working on that one!). I'm actually quite excited about this. We will be partnering with 3 new counties every year for the next three years in order to get some dedicated services for our clientele, which will really help out our clients and expand our services!
Okay, enough worky work. Let's talk about....running. Cause, really, we haven't talked about that nearly enough for me this year. We all know it's been a pretty disappointing season for me (well, depending on how you look at it. I was lucky as all get out to be able to run at all!). I set out to best my half PR (1:50) and was cut short by injury back in May. I got stung, stress fractured my foot, and then busted a big callous (yuck, I know). I've ran, including races, 12 times since Memorial Day. And for such a crap bag of training (oh yeah, I went there), I have nothing but love for what my foot gave me back.
But that was 2012. We're done with races for that year. So....what about 2013?
Well, I'm not quite ready to plan out my tri season. I need a break from that formal training. But...I miss running. So what does one do when they need a reason to run? They find a new race!!
Last year (2011) I trained for the National Marathon using the FIRST plan from Runner's World. I documented my adventures on the blog, and really enjoyed the plan structure: 3 runs a week-one speed work, one tempo, and one long run. No fluff, no wasted runs. All done at a specific speed to gear you toward your goal pace. The "pace" is determined off your best 10k, and gives you a set goal for each workout based off of that. I PRed by a half hour on the course, and feel strongly that I would have gotten my sub 4 if I hadn't been idiotic enough to work a 12 hour day the day before, including 8 hours of car travel (dumb, Rae).
Well, what is life for if we don't move on and try to fix those mistakes? So....tomorrow is day #1 of the NEW FIRST plan! (The second plan?) I've got two marathons on my radar....one is 15 weeks away, and one is 19 weeks away. Let's take a look....
Option #1: Ocala Marathon. (Florida)
This race is January 20th, or, 15 weeks away. It's a small little marathon in horse country, and last year, 500 people ran it. The course is 2 loops, and one Floridian described it as "hilly", but the net elevation gain is 200 feet per loop, and the last 8 miles of each loop look flat or downhill. Of course, "hilly" is relative-most of our courses in NY would look flat to a Northern Californian...and Florida...is pancake flat to me. Bonus? The race is pretty cheap, and the hubs is playing flag football in a town 40 miles away that weekend, which makes for a double awesome reason to fly down to Florida for 5 days.
Decisions, decisions. I have until November to sign up for either at a lower price, so i think I'll start the plan and then see how it goes. I'll post my plan tomorrow....gotta get in that 10k to figure out my training paces!
Have you ever done a marathon in SC or Fla? Either one of these? Which one would you pick?
Okay, enough worky work. Let's talk about....running. Cause, really, we haven't talked about that nearly enough for me this year. We all know it's been a pretty disappointing season for me (well, depending on how you look at it. I was lucky as all get out to be able to run at all!). I set out to best my half PR (1:50) and was cut short by injury back in May. I got stung, stress fractured my foot, and then busted a big callous (yuck, I know). I've ran, including races, 12 times since Memorial Day. And for such a crap bag of training (oh yeah, I went there), I have nothing but love for what my foot gave me back.
But that was 2012. We're done with races for that year. So....what about 2013?
Well, I'm not quite ready to plan out my tri season. I need a break from that formal training. But...I miss running. So what does one do when they need a reason to run? They find a new race!!
Last year (2011) I trained for the National Marathon using the FIRST plan from Runner's World. I documented my adventures on the blog, and really enjoyed the plan structure: 3 runs a week-one speed work, one tempo, and one long run. No fluff, no wasted runs. All done at a specific speed to gear you toward your goal pace. The "pace" is determined off your best 10k, and gives you a set goal for each workout based off of that. I PRed by a half hour on the course, and feel strongly that I would have gotten my sub 4 if I hadn't been idiotic enough to work a 12 hour day the day before, including 8 hours of car travel (dumb, Rae).
Well, what is life for if we don't move on and try to fix those mistakes? So....tomorrow is day #1 of the NEW FIRST plan! (The second plan?) I've got two marathons on my radar....one is 15 weeks away, and one is 19 weeks away. Let's take a look....
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This race is January 20th, or, 15 weeks away. It's a small little marathon in horse country, and last year, 500 people ran it. The course is 2 loops, and one Floridian described it as "hilly", but the net elevation gain is 200 feet per loop, and the last 8 miles of each loop look flat or downhill. Of course, "hilly" is relative-most of our courses in NY would look flat to a Northern Californian...and Florida...is pancake flat to me. Bonus? The race is pretty cheap, and the hubs is playing flag football in a town 40 miles away that weekend, which makes for a double awesome reason to fly down to Florida for 5 days.
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Option #2: Myrtle Beach Marathon (South Carolina)
This one is 4 weeks later, so I would just need to do a repeater of 4 weeks somewhere in my plan (no biggie). It's a bit closer, and we have family and friends within spitting distance (kinda). It would be a bit cheaper, because we don't have to rent a car or fly. However, who knows that PA will be like in February to drive through.....
This race is run mostly by the ocean (how cool!) but is also a bit bigger and pricier.
Have you ever done a marathon in SC or Fla? Either one of these? Which one would you pick?
Myrtle Beach is a great race. I completed that marathon the first three years. It has gotten pricey and one year they canceled the race because of potential bad weather(snow) that never happen and of course, no refunds!! I kinda laugh because the first year we started in a horrible thunderstorm without them even blinking an eye, whatever. I have run some races in Florida but no marathons. I hope this might help.
ReplyDeleteThanks Jennifer! I saw that Myrtle Beach was $$....am hoping we can stay with friends and family to cut costs if I do :-)
DeleteI am somewhat close to Myrtle Beach..of course you guys can stay with us! Its really, really nice in Ocala, but I am not there :)
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