Fifty miles, and the implications thereof.
As I hit mile 17.5 out of my 20+ miles on Saturday, the idea of attempting to Boston-qualify at New Jersey once again crossed my mind. With today's hilly Coogan's 5K race, I hit 50.0 miles for the week, and I realised that I could in fact, at my current modest level of increasing mileage, peak at 65 miles per week just before starting to taper in April. That, with a few more speedwork sessions, would probably put me back up to the level I was last year when I ran a 1:31 half at Queens. In fact with a marginal improvement on my recent Bronx Half of 1:34, according to this calculator, I would get a BQ by the skin of my teeth.
But do I really want to do that?
I keep questioning myself on this. I have kept saying that I'll do Jersey "just for fun", but why would I? Is there any point to running 26.2 miles and putting yourself through that kind of physical pain and torture without some kind of serious goal? If I'm training for a marathon, then wouldn't the whole point of training be to attain a PR at least? Currently I've been giving up on setting PRs (last week's four miler, for example) so that I can get the mileage in for the marathon. But it doesn't really make sense to put in all those miles and give up on the other races just to not set a PR in the marathon. I suppose if it were the NYC marathon, which is where I live, that would be one thing, but to make an effort to travel someplace, even as close as NJ, is more of an investment.
I don't know; I need to think about this and see how the training goes.
But do I really want to do that?
I keep questioning myself on this. I have kept saying that I'll do Jersey "just for fun", but why would I? Is there any point to running 26.2 miles and putting yourself through that kind of physical pain and torture without some kind of serious goal? If I'm training for a marathon, then wouldn't the whole point of training be to attain a PR at least? Currently I've been giving up on setting PRs (last week's four miler, for example) so that I can get the mileage in for the marathon. But it doesn't really make sense to put in all those miles and give up on the other races just to not set a PR in the marathon. I suppose if it were the NYC marathon, which is where I live, that would be one thing, but to make an effort to travel someplace, even as close as NJ, is more of an investment.
I don't know; I need to think about this and see how the training goes.
posted by Skylight at 11:17 AM
3 Comments:
Here's an idea - do miles 0 - 2o just for fun, and then see how you feel for the last 4.2.
Because, trust me, I have done marathons north of 5 hours and even then the last few miles aren't "fun".
I do think it's fun , however, to have a challenging time goal, keep it interesting, enjoy that rollercoaster ride and obsessive checking of weather forecasts the week before.....and if you get 83 degrees like I did last time in NJM, well, I missed my goal but I know I still ran a solid race. i'ts all good. HEIDI
oops I mean 6.2. Originally I was thinking miles 0 -22 just for fun.
24.2, now that's a fun marathon.
I would say not to rush to judgment, my friend, but also to trust your instincts when you make some progress in processing the benefits and drawbacks. You know your physiology and mental/emotional wiring best.
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