112 - tuesday

I sat down with my marathon training plan, and made some honest admissions:

1. because grad school and work took up so much of my time this summer, I am way behind on training for a full 26.2 in october.
2. I hurt my left leg in seattle.  badly.  I injured the soft tissue in my ankle and strained my gastroc and soleus muscles.  because I've been trying to train for a full fall marathon in fits of LRs followed by weeks with no training, I haven't given my injury the proper time, stretching, massage, and general tlc that it very much needs to heal.  
3. like many new marathoners, I went through a bit of a motivation slump after my race.  it's been hard to get out of this rut but I am trying. 

I walked away from seattle high on the adrenaline from my big accomplishment.  I couldn't wait to get out and do it all over again.  I started thinking about the boston and nyc marathons.  I registered for newport in october.  when this slump hit, I didn't want to admit it, and I wasn't sure what to do about it.  so, WWHD?

hal higdon is a running icon.  he's been training runners, from the most timid novices to elites preparing for the olympic trials, for decades.  I sat down with my higdon 26.2 training plan.  then I looked at the 13.1 plan at the same skill level.

all these things considered, here are my proposed solutions to my running issues:

1. I will run the newport half marathon on october 17 instead of the full. 
2. this will give me time to heal my injuries.  for example, if I were on the 26.2 plan, this weekend's LR would be 18 miles.  on the 13.1 plan? a cool 5k.  which is convenient, because I'm going on vacation next week and there just so happens to be a sunday morning charity 5k one town away.  a week on the beach means I can cross-train with swims and since it's vacation, I have all the time in the world to stretch, and knead, and ice, and rest.  it's like a hollywood rehab trip (for my bum leg)!
3. smaller distance goals are much easier to self-motivate towards.  because I'm still very fit from training for seattle, I can focus my energy on the quality of my runs (improving speed and technique) rather than on, well, finishing without wanting to die (you want me to run howmanymiles?! *hits snooze button, rolls over*).  there's also plenty of room built into this plan for weight- and cross-training.  shaking things up will help keep me focused and motivated.  

goal: PR.  I ran newport last october in 2:06.  I ran providence in may in 2:08 (though I didn't race it as hard as I would have were it not part of my larger seattle training plan).  my goal for newport this october is 1:50.  secretly, it's more ambitious than that, but I'd like to start someplace reasonable.  let's go!