Jenn is an idiot, my long run instead of speedwork, and more rambling thoughts.....

So, I finally broke down and ordered a water belt! Two of my heros, Amanda and Ana Maria both wear one and therefore these are like a Louis Vuitton in the running world and you are a BADASS runner if you wear one (even if your husband makes fun of you...) Anyway, I took it out of the box this morning and couldn't figure out what this stupid plastic contraption was on the side so I texted Amanda this picture with the message "WTF is this plastic thing for. I threw away the tag and now its just bugging me" She kindly informed me that it is what they use to hang it up in the store.....What a moron....

Moving on....

So, I've been giving a lot of thought to my training lately, what it is that I actually want to be accomplishing here and at what price....I've read a hundred books-retained very little-ha!. (I did this in college too and had great grades but remember nothing) My point being, I know the experts know what they're talking about but sometimes I'm just not sure if Jenn has it in her to follow the experts.....

People who have followed me for a long time know that I prefer the distance and the miles to the speed. When I first started running and even training for my first marathon, I often didn't even wear a watch, just ran and then ran some more. I LOVED running, very little stress for me. If anything, a major stress reliever! Speedwork was primarily a fartlek of some sort, not all that much organized and some tempo running-still primarily unorganized. I didn't fly by the seat of my pants necessarily as I ran relatively hard and I put in the miles. I used a SmartCoach plan as a guide but when I tried, I even struggled to hit the speed paces for a 3:40 marathon. Somehow I ran a 3:25. I was EXCITED for my long runs and this was the HIGHLIGHT of training for me.

My Boston training I got more speed specific and although I still didn't hit a lot of the paces, I was more regular with my attempts. I would still constantly alter the plan and do what I wanted to do instead of what the plan said but that's what kept running "fun" for me. I made a 7 minute improvement so increasing the speed somewhat definitely had it's benefits.

Anyway, this ramble kind of has a point. Right now my A goal is a marathon in 5 and a half weeks. I need to ensure that I get to that starting line feeling like I'm the SHIT and fully capable of smokin' out a great marathon. On my plan today was speed. I didn't want to do it, I didn't feel confident about it, I DREADED it. Now, I know there are up and down days of training but it seems lately in all this structure I've been having more down days. I feel like the passion of just running to run is getting lost somewhere. Of course, I want to get better but sometimes even though I KNOW I'm getting better, I just feel defeated....Logic would say I have only a little over 3 weeks until taper and to just stick with the plan. Jenn says NO.

I drove up to the port of entry with my good friend this morning for a class field trip for Reese. She left me there and I ran home.....

I fully fueled this run (3 gels) and my elapsed time was actually almost 4 minutes longer than what it shows here because of a stop to refill water bottles and an emergency cornfield bathroom break. Even so, my pace was steady steady and this after a 20 mile on Saturday and then a 10 mile in 1:18. I am feeling VERY confident about this. Much more confident than if I had whipped out the speedwork the plan called for. No, it was not easy pace effort, more like hard effort trial marathon pace and I was tired but it's what I needed today.

I've made a few decisions. I'm not going to follow my plan for the next 3 weeks. I'm going to do what feels good to me. I will NOT be racing a half marathon. I don't want to cut my miles and I don't want to feel defeated. I'm a wimp maybe but I know I can't deal with a poor performance in it. I will run the race and likely have some sort of gameplan but I won't taper and I'm training through it. I WILL however be racing a 10K the following weekend. I'm going to go top heavy early in the week and rest a little before the race and hopefully be able to knock that one off my sidebar!!

And now for the whole post disclaimer!! I will change my mind on all of this tomorrow and delete this post!!!

Happy Tuesday!