It's like the old saying goes....some weeks you're the hammer, some weeks you're the nail. And sometimes, you have to decide, well, fuck it, I'll just be a power tool.
And now that I've gone that way with my analogy, I'm not sure I like it. Fine, I'll be a tool. Nothing new there, anyways, am I right?
Don't answer that.
And now that I have absolutely no idea where that even came from, let's talk about the week. Oh right, the mind set. That's where I was going. After last weeks shitty runs, the whole "life throws you a curve ball" came into play at the beginning of week 12 in the form of an email from the Race Director of my upcoming marathon - "Gary Oceansport". I wish I was so cool to have a name like that. While Gary Oceansport (let's call him "GO", which may be even more appropriate given his RD status) may have many talents in terms of Race Directing, it would seem that course information is not one of his fortes. The typical RD sends out an email about a month in advance with race logistics - timeline, packet pickups, important course markers such as where the porta potties and Gatorade are, etc. They also usually include a map of the race course from mapmyrun or similar.
This email was no exception, right down to the maps. The email narrative referred to the attachments and made sure we knew the numbers on the maps were not miles, but rather, turns. And that the course would be marked very clearly. Good to know. And then I opened the attachment labelled "marathon". And saw this.
I'll give you a few minutes to review that.
In case you're still confused (hell, I am 7 days later), that's 40 turns for a marathon. And a random cross over to say "hey" to the people a half mile behind you as you RUN THEM OVER. I did what any normal person would do - I freaked out and whined on social media. My favorite comment off of it likened it to a maze on the back of the paper kiddie menu place mat at a family restaurant, which, when you think about it, it does bear resemblance to that, or...
A kids cereal box. Luckily, I have ample experience with kiddie cereal from Rob and Biz, so this week I scrapped my run training and just navigated cereal box mazes with the hope that this kind of race specific training will get me out of Rhode Island alive. Or maybe not.
All kidding aside, the reveal of the new course has me re-thinking my race goals in terms of A) getting lost, B) running the tangents of 40 turns, and C) losing momentum on 40 turns. I'm not a happy camper, but one of the ways to handle endurance sports well is your head space to deal with these mind f*cks, so I'm trying to be positive. Meanwhile, I'm putting my affairs in order and plotting elaborate kidnapping plans to bring someone with me to act as my lead biker. So far, I'm striking out with a big fat zero for takers, but I'm pretty
In terms of actual running, it was a pretty fantastic week. What was supposed to be a step back week ended up pretty average in terms of mileage - I upped my speed for my speed work (1.5 mile repeats at a 7:45 pace) and nailed my tempo run.
My planned long run of 10 miles ended up being a 14 mile long run with The Banter, who, despite my best efforts at being annoying as shit during our partner runs, still agrees to train with me. It was a fantastic workout done at an 8:24 pace that allowed us to chat the whole time and afterwards, I still felt like I had quite a bit left in the tank. Score.
Mileage for the week:
Running: 53.9 miles
Swimming: 5000 yds
Biking: 60 miles (super proud of this one - I actually got on my bike 4 times!)
With less than 4 weeks to go till race day, I have one final long effort, a race Saturday (local 5 miler to practice actually racing before I toe the line at 26.2, even if its short), and time to spend nailing down nutrition and super important things like race outfits.
Even though I was thrown the curve ball, I'm still in the game. While it might not be the perfect race to BQ, it still smells like a PR to me if I play my game right and mother nature cooperates :) And if I make sure to eat my Lucky Charms while studying the back of the box, of course. After all, its almost "GO" time!
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