Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Tug of War

***Update to the family blog! Click [HERE].

We hit our goal! Demolished it, really. Last Saturday we wanted to run our 11 miler at an 8:23 pace, and we ended up doing it in an 8:02! We both felt so good about it. I really felt strong- like I could have run farther, and faster. It was so nice to have a nice long run! I need to keep in mind how awesome it was as I get myself psyched up for my 17 miler this Thursday.

The night before the 11 miler I stuffed myself full of hot dogs and marshmallows- maybe that's the key to having a good run? Probably.
Dallas and I at a cookout last Friday night.

Monday was another round of Yasso 800's. These are quickly becoming my favorite workout! Maybe it's because I keep envisioning myself running a marathon in under 3:30 :).

My splits for the 6 800's were: 3:24, 3:22, 3:24, 3:21, 3:24, 3:21.

Seriously. Boston. BOSTON! I swear that I can do it.

I'm a pretty religious person when it comes to running. I follow my training schedule exactly and I rarely miss a workout. I set pretty reasonable goals for myself and almost always achieve them. Sometimes I miss a PR, but it's not by very much, so I know that the goal will be attainable with another try at it.

With this in mind, the marathon thing is throwing me for a loop. I've never done one before and I know I should just go with the flow and be happy to finish. But there's that darn BQ that keeps getting in my sight. I feel like I can run an 8:20 pace for a long time without feeling exhausted- why shouldn't I just go for it?! At the same time, I don't want to put too much pressure on myself because I'm RUNNING A FREAKING MARATHON!!! Isn't that awesome enough?

I keep having this tug-of-war with my heart and my head over this issue. Do any of you feel the same way? How do you feel about goals and running? Advice???

3 comments:

Rachelle Wardle said...

I can 100% relate to what you are saying! It is hard to just be satisfied if we do not live up to what we know we are capable of. I am so convinced that you will BQ as long as you run smart and pace yourself well.

I wanted to BQ in my first marathon and did not and hated the experience because I went out to fast, cramped up, didn't hydrate right, didn't do anything right. I personally needed this experience to teach me a lesson.

Second marathon (3 weeks later) cut 20 minutes off of my time, BQ'd with ease, and loved every second of the experience.

If you know what you are capable of and do everything right you will BQ!

Sorry this is long but I just wanted to share my experience.

P.S. Great job on those 800s! That is really impressive.

Tina @GottaRunNow said...

That BQ goal is a lot of fun to reach for and you're running so fast in your training, if I were you, I'd be thinking about BQ'ing too!

Amber said...

Translations for non-runners? PR? BQ?