Marathon Training: Week 8, Half Way to the Finish Line!

 

Going into week eight I was a good feeling. I knew the week would start and end with a quality workout, but be full of easy building miles all throughout the week, my favorite! I started my Monday with a solid quality run, looping Dallas! I felt good and I embraced being where I am in my training plan. I'm two months in, with two months to go!

 The week went as planned, lots of miles and I indeed got my mileage up to the next level, just as planned. The next two months will get pretty intense, but I have my head on straight. I'm doing a good job not overthinking the process and also trusting the process. When using a training plan that has been built for you, your level of consistency and your current goals, it will still be difficult. To get faster, one must push the body, without breaking it. That's a hard math problem to figure out! 

 I had an interesting conversation with a co-worker this week who has enjoyed my training blogs but has no interest in running. She talked about a time in her life where she learned something new and scary to her. A big goal in her life. Its something that still lights up her eyes when she talks about it. She shared how she relates to my running goals by what she when through to get to the goal she had set for herself in that time in her life.

 I loved our conversation so much. It was a reminder that I'm not so crazy after all. Setting my big scary goals are positive. I'm not wasting my time and in the process, I'm bettering myself in all areas of my life. 

My favorite run of the week was my hardest one! My husband and I ran our 20 miler in Salem this weekend. I wanted a change of route and I desperately wanted to run through our State Capitol Park's Cherry Blossoms. We started at Salem's Riverfront. I love running there. We ran over two bridges and into three different parks. For the last four miles we ran all over downtown Salem and did a couple loops through the Cherry Blossoms. We started later than we usually do, and it was the warmest and muggiest it's been in training so far. It didn't help that my legs felt fatigued. At mile 18 I stopped for a moment and talked to Jerry about walking the last two miles. Both of use wanted the run to be over. We also knew that walking two miles would take twice as long! Ugh! We started running again and just did it! After, we talked about how tempting it was to walk but we really needed to run the last two miles. We did it just fine. It wasn't fun but we are conditioned do this type of mileage. Isn't that why we do the training runs? Sometimes it's more mental training than we even realize. We really needed to run it out Saturday. This is exactly what I've gone through when racing. You come to a spot in the race when you have to decide, will I run it in and complete my goal or stop? 

I chose to keep running! 

 At the end of that 20 miles I looked back at my splits. As fatigued and hot as I got, I stayed consistent and ran a really solid long run. Cheers to the next eight weeks for training! 

Training GOALS, if overthought, it's easy to think you can't do it for all the reasons! Believe me, there are so many reasons! I have chosen to get up each morning and just do it. I want this, and I have nothing to lose. If I fall short, life will go on! If I do it, I will have something no one can take from me!