I'm on week 10 of my 17-week training, and am finding it challenging every single week. The first 8 weeks were for building endurance, and so I was doing long slow (10:50/m) runs every saturday, and 1/4 mile intervals on Wednesdays, with short jogs and biking filling in most other days. The intervals were the hardest, as it was 1/4 miles in 1:50 and a short rest, over and over, leaving me winded and not able to get in a zone of any kind. I love the zone :). The long runs were hard too, but in a very different way. I love running in the country, in different cities, finding new towns and tracks and just plain being alone for several hours, lost in my head. I planned renovations, talked to God, brainstormed problems, wrote imaginary blog posts that never got typed out, argued with my legs and my lungs, watched for roadkill and weird trash and oblivious cars, and just plain enjoyed myself.
Last week I started the Endurance phase of my training, meaning the long runs continue to get longer (19.5 last weekend in 99% humidity!) and my Wednesday are now "tempo runs" as they're run at an 8:45 pace which is faster than my target of 9:00 miles for Marathon day. If I reach that goal I'll clock a 4 hour marathon. The 8:45 pace is hard to keep up for me for now, but part of it is getting enough rest. This is very hard to do while keeping track of 2 small boys, single parenting (temporarily), moving between states, emptying rooms and rearranging so we can take in a subletter again, prepping for a big show next month in another state, etc ... things I can't walk away from just to train. I'm not a professional runner, so this has to fit into my life, not take it over. That balance becomes a bit dubious as I get closer to race day. I had to hire a sitter for 6 hours this Saturday so I can leave at 6am for Central Park, go stretch and run 21 miles, and hobble home again via the subway.
Last week I started the Endurance phase of my training, meaning the long runs continue to get longer (19.5 last weekend in 99% humidity!) and my Wednesday are now "tempo runs" as they're run at an 8:45 pace which is faster than my target of 9:00 miles for Marathon day. If I reach that goal I'll clock a 4 hour marathon. The 8:45 pace is hard to keep up for me for now, but part of it is getting enough rest. This is very hard to do while keeping track of 2 small boys, single parenting (temporarily), moving between states, emptying rooms and rearranging so we can take in a subletter again, prepping for a big show next month in another state, etc ... things I can't walk away from just to train. I'm not a professional runner, so this has to fit into my life, not take it over. That balance becomes a bit dubious as I get closer to race day. I had to hire a sitter for 6 hours this Saturday so I can leave at 6am for Central Park, go stretch and run 21 miles, and hobble home again via the subway.