Long Run Non Run...

The planned long run for this last weekend which I was so nervous about did not happen. I wish injury was to blame or that extreme weather was the culprit. I can't even blame it on some personal matter taking priority. The truth is I completely freaked out. Training for a marathon is almost as much mental as it is physical. To endure the physical demands of training, which some times involves running long mileage for hours at a time, one has to be mentally tough. I am not sure whether I am physically ready for long training runs yet, but one this is for sure I was not mentally ready this weekend to do it. That is something I'll have to work on. I think confidence will come through consistent weekly mileage and weekend racing.

Building Up to a Long Run and Racing

We are half-way through the first full week of February and I am starting to think about participating in a road race, the first in at least four years. I find it remarkable that just a few weeks ago I was having difficulty running on the treadmill for Thirty minutes without having to stop or start walking. Today I am able to run at least Forty-Five minutes at a healthy pace of 7:30 per mile without having to slow down or stop.

With the progress I have made in mind I looked at the NYRRC racing calendar for upcoming races that would provide a challenge but not kill me, and I decided on the Al Gordon 4 Mile race on February 23 in Central Park. I am all signed up for it, but before race day I will attempt at least two 10 mile long training runs. I will attempt the first long run this coming Saturday. I shall report on how that goes. Stay-tuned.

Training Update 1

When I started this blog less than a month ago I was running maybe an average of 10-12 miles per week and at best had been averaging that kind mileage for only a few weeks prior. Before that it is safe to say that my entire mileage for all of 2007 was at most 40 miles. Since my first post on this blog I have run a total of 89.9 miles or by another metric I have run 12 hours 7 minutes and 5 seconds. I have run at least 5 miles a day for 14 of the last 17 days. I have updated the most important piece of running equipment. I have retired my old Nike running shoes (probably had 300 miles on them) and started running on a brand new pair of Brooks Axiom 2 shoes. Finally I expect to incorporate long runs to my weekly training starting next weekend with a goal of participating in my first road race in 3.5 years by the end February.