Almost there

With only one week left until the big day, I’m ready for this party to start.  Being out of town for the last week has made it easy to immerse myself in work and not think about the marathon every waking hour.  But with only seven days to go, I’ll need to start physically and mentally preparing for this race.

 

My runs during this last week should be fairly easy - 3 to 5 miles at race pace (6 minutes and 52 seconds/mile) and I’ll focus on my form and staying relaxed.  I’ll also spend an additional 15-20 minutes stretching, focusing specifically on my hamstrings.  I vividly remember running my first marathon, the Marine Corps Marathon, and right after running 17 miles and past The Awakening at Hains Point, my right hamstring locked up.  I hopped over to the side of the road to stretch it out, and as soon as I got there, my left hamstring locked up and I couldn’t walk.  Literally.  I stood there for 3 minutes, rubbing my hamstrings to loosen them up.  I learned my lesson, and stretching for an extra 15 minutes after each run will be a tiny price to pay if it alleviates hamstring issues like that during the race.

 

In addition to running a few easy miles, I’ll also spend the week mentally preparing to run the race.  Weird?  Yes.  But effective?  Yes.  Let me explain.  If you haven’t heard of the “wall” before, it’s the point during the race where your body gets too tired to keep up the pace you’ve been running and you just want to quit.  At this point, it’s all too easy to slow down your pace and lose sight of your goal.  The more I can think about having this moment during the race (which will happen at least once), and practice reminding myself that the discomfort is only temporary and I’ll get through it, the more prepared I’ll be when it happens.  I’ll be able to bust through that wall at mile 18, 21, or whenever it happens.  Now if only I could apply this same methodology to my discussions with Comcast’s customer service personnel...

 

So, stretching and thinking.  If only my whole training program was that easy!