Tell Me Why I Don't Like Mondays

Man... bad run this morning. Well, not really bad, but tiring, or tired, or something like that. I didn't sleep much the night before, and I was sort of sleepy/tired during much of the run. I guess that's what you get the day after a race (and one you didn't cool down enough after). Anyway, Nate and I ran 9 miles around Jamaica Pond.

In some sense I feel like I've just been treading water with my training lately. I haven't gotten over 70 miles a week yet, and my longest long run has been 19 miles. I realize that I'm in good shape, as evidenced by my good half-marathon... But part of me wonders what I could be doing if I were dropping 80 a week and running more serious workouts. (Probably what would happen would be that I'd get really run down and overtrained). Given my circumstances (i.e. a 9-5 job) though, I feel like I'm doing ok. I have to realize that I'm not approaching the marathon as I approaced races in high school and in college. Before, races were the culmination of a long period of training, and defined a season, or even a year's worth of work. They were approached incredibly seriously, and you'd go as hard as you could from the gun, basically running yourself into the ground right before the finish line. The marathon is not going to be like this. In one sense, it does represent the culmination of a period of training. Obviously I'm training for the marathon, but I have to treat it differently than I've treated races in the past. I have to do this for a few reasons. First, when running, and especially racing a marathon, you risk blowing up at any point past 18 or 20 miles. This can get really ugly, and make the last 6 miles a living hell. You risk not finishing. I don't want this to happen. I want to be rolling down Beacon Street. I also have to approach the marathon with some caution becuase it's my first one. My longest long run leading up to it will only be about 21 miles or so, and I don't know how my body will react to the last 5 miles of the race. Hopefully I'm prepared well enough that I can stay strong during the last section, but we'll see.

Anyway, what does this mean for my training between now and April 17th? Well, not too much. I'm only about a month before the race, so I can't improve my fitness that much in 30 days or so. I'll get some quality long runs in soon, and run a couple of workouts, but then it's taper time. (not to be confused with Tapir time). I'll need to rest up so my legs are super fresh for the race. Hopefully I'm not too stubborn during the 2 weeks prior to the race... I don't think I will be.

Sorry for the rant...I guess it could be more coherent, but if a blog isn't meant to be a place to post stupid streams of consciousness, then what is?

Stay tuned tomorrow for a review of a great rap album, "Rip the Jacker" by Canibus.