ORN: Today, I ran 3 miles in 29'21". The weather was a decent 30° and windless. Great running weather. I felt pretty good today, especially in the middle mile. After calibrating, my Polar S1 foot pod appears to be reporting my pace as about 30 seconds slower per mile than it was. No worries. I'm still running consistent sub-10 minute miles, and that makes me happy.
Today was the first day of actual, no-shit marathon training. As of Day One, I am 100% on schedule. [I'm following Grete Waitz's plan from her book, Run Your First Marathon, which I reviewed earlier.] Today was the first run on that schedule. Oh yeah, and I signed up for my winter running group this weekend. First meeting is Saturday.
At the onset of a project, it's always best to have a clear idea of your intentions, a clear scope definition. Therefore, hear me internet: I merely intend to finish this race. I do not have a speed goal. All I desire is to finish the race upright, non-injured, and mostly conscious. If I come across the finish line in less than 4:30', then that's just a bonus. The clock will not define success this time.
As a matter of principle, I never have a speed goal when I am shooting for a new longest-distance-I've-ever-run. I either work on improving endurance [distance] or speed, never both at the same time. The first time I try a distance, the goal is always to just finish. This approach serves me in other realms, too, like caving. My goal in my recent caving trip was to just try everything cheerfully and get through it. I wasn't trying to be a tough-guy and over-extend myself or do something unsafe. The idea was to slowly stretch myself out of my comfort zone, increase my confidence, and and then stretch farther when I am ready. Therefore, I did the 20' belly crawl into that tiny chute and not anything longer or tighter. I tried the 10' rock climb and not the 60' vertical shaft.
Anyway, I just want to finish this race in one piece, that's all. I may do a little speed-work now and then, but the goal there is to just get through all these training miles a little faster rather than beat Haile Gebrselassie's world record. I have all the time in the world for that.
Happy training!
ReplyDeleteI was the same with my first. I just wanted to finish, but was eyeing 4:30 as a nice time.
Finishing safely is a worthy goal! No need to be aiming to run down Mr Gebrselassie right away, lol.
ReplyDeleteThey had a good article on him in Runner's World a few months ago. Amazing runner, although strange that he's never won a medal in the marathon at the Olympics, considering how many world records he has.
Glad you like X Minus One, I've really enjoyed that podcast, especially the Bradbury stories you mentioned. Check out "Hostess" if you haven't, that one really got to me. Beats FM radio on the commute every time.
have fun training ... and I love your goal of finishing. It's easy to get caught up in time, but for a marathon the end goal should always be finishing in one piece the first time around.
ReplyDeleteI'm in training for my first marathon too.
ReplyDeleteI'll check out that book.