It’s been a really busy two weeks. There was the prep for the Jamestown Half Marathon, which was all well and good until I woke up race morning at 3am with some not so nice indicators that I had a lovely bout of food poisoning.
But before all that was the JP Morgan Corporate Challenge. I wanted to beat last years time. I figured with the first 3 minutes of walking to get through the crowd last year that wouldn’t be an issue. Until we got there this year and somehow, all of the walkers made their way to the FRONT of the start line. 7 minutes. That’s right. I spent 7 minutes forced to walk in a herd to get past the walkers. There was no PR. But there was a good race with good people, and that’s what matters. Not really, but I’ll pretend.
We’re a fun bunch. Our shirts said “Run? i thought you said RUM!” They were laughed at.
Not rockstar status.
So back to Jamestown. I’ve never not started a race before and I’m so disappointed that this was my first no-show. Jamestown was actually the stop in the Triple Crown I was looking forward to most simply because it is so overwhelmingly beautiful I figured it would help distract me from the extra warm 13.1 miles. As it turns out, I wasn’t the only Rhode Scholar battling stomach issues that day- Mallory- I hope you’re feeling better!
With the no-start behind me, I got some rest, stopped throwing up and go back to the pavement with the major race 12 weeks out. I’m really excited to be in the home stretch of training although I know this pretty much ruins any shot I had at a social life on Fridays for the rest of the summer, but that’s ok. Getting into high mileage mode I took some time to think about what went wrong with my Boston training this year and how I can get to the finish line of the Newport Marathon healthy, happy, and maybe before Jim. I really want this vacation. I’m competitive and over-worked. This isn’t a great combination.
I took a long look at my training plan from last year and I decided to change things up a bit. Instead of hitting 17-miles, then backing down to 12, then back up to 19, I’m going to gradually increase until 4 weeks out. I’ll add two miles every week to my long run until I hit 20, then I’ll go back down to 15, 10 and 5. I have not run this plan by any sort of official coach, doctor or other runner. It just seems to feel right to me, so I’m going to go with it.
I knew I was over training for Boston last year when my knee started to act up and my overall health went down the tubes. Knock on wood, my knee and the rest of me has been perfectly fine this time around! I truly believe it’s all because I’m taking a lot more stock in listening to my body and not pushing myself when it doesn’t feel right just because a piece of paper says I should be. At first this went against every good runner instinct in my body. I should be dead at the end of every run. If you’re not hurting you’re not training hard enough. HOW WAS I NOT ASKED TO THE OLYMPIC TRIALS? I know, I wonder that too. I checked the event schedule and I appears they took out “Running at a slightly below average pace for extended periods of time and stopping to take funny photos along the way” this year. Maybe 2016.
These are the types of pictures I take in the middle of a run.
Overall I am feeling really great, and I think I’m going to be ready come October 14. Last night at dinner I asked Jim if he had even started any sort of training yet and his response was “I am training. I ate a salad today.” I suppose that should give me slight confidence boost in this whole thing but I’m not counting him out. All 5’3” of me is going to have a serious natural disadvantage going up against 6’5” of naturally athletically gifted “My 5K PR is 20:01”-ness. Our friends have also started making side bets amongst themselves. I won’t share what they are putting the odds at. All I have to say is that every single one of you will be buying me a beer when we get back from Newport.
Aside from training, life has been pretty much summer as usual in my life. A country concert, time on the boat and long days at work. Unfortunately those don’t go away just because the sun came out to play.
Boat life doesn’t suck.
Caitlin insisted there be a photo of us here without her Super Spectating. Here you go world. Country Concert-ing Caitlin
Tonight will be 3 miles that I am determined to negative split. I really will get the hang of this one day, I promise. Really, I do.
And in true RunBritRun fashion, I need advice from all my fit and fabulous friends out there. Have any of you tried the Nike+ Fuel band? I feel like this might be something really cool, or a huge waste of money. Any lovers/haters out there want to share their thoughts? I need some real world reviews before I spend a bunch of money on another running toy I may never use. Please and thank you.
Run Brit, Run! 