Fit Fun Mom

It’s getting real. Way back in the beginning of May, I signed up for the Santa Barbara International Marathon on November 10. Yes, I signed up six months in advance. I like to have a race on my calendar. I don’t like racing, particularly, but I like having a race in place on the horizon. Now here we are at the end of October, and it’s getting real.

Taper has begun. At this point I’m excited about tapering and seeing if I can get that pesky groin injury to heal completely in time for the race. I did it before in half marathon training, I can do it again now, right? RIGHT?! The plantar fasciitis is a non-issue, I’m happy to report. I have beaten it into submission and it does not affect how I run or how fast I run. (More on my thoughts on how to conquer plantar fasciitis later).

I don’t want to push it at this point so Tuesday’s speed run of 8x800s at a ridiculously fast pace got converted into four miles at marathon pace (9:06) plus a half-mile each for warm up and cool down. Yesterday I hit the spin bike for 40 minutes plus 25 minutes of upper body machines at the gym. For today’s tempo run, I was determined to follow the training plan exactly: 1 mile easy, 5 miles at 8:25, 1 mile easy. How did it go?

8:23
8:28
8:22
8:21
8:20

for an average of 8:23. Booyah!

The thing is, I had a lot riding on this workout. It’s not that I needed the physical training or that I think any training at this point will help me run faster on race day. It’s that I needed the mental boost to know that I can do it. That I did it. That it’s not crazy to attempt run the marathon in 16 days. Mission accomplished and I feel great. Now if I can just hit 9:06 for 13 miles on Saturday….

How is your training going? How far in advance do you sign up for a race?

Image credit: Gürkan Kurt