My race is right around the corner, Saturday at 7 am. I'm driving up Friday with a teammate. We had a last-minute lodging emergency when our group's AirBnB was cancelled due to discovery of bedbugs (!!!). We spent Wednesday night scrambling for the final hotel rooms available in the city center, finally managing to disperse amongst four rooms.
I feel like my taper has gone pretty well, although I shouldn't have totally dropped strengthening. I have had a bunch of little irritating niggles pop up that I normally control with strength exercises - SI joint, piriformis, hamstring. My left piriformis is my main concern, as it is irritated at fast paces or long strides. My right foot still kind of hurts, too, honestly. But I don't expect any mid-race injuries to impact me.
My last few marathon pace workouts have been easy, in fact too fast, I could barely hold back to the 6:40's. Does that mean I'm ready for a 2:56? Ha, no, but it means that I am nicely rested and have some pop in my legs! I am sticking to the plan of 6:52's, probably to be adjusted for weather. The weather is still predicted to be cold, rainy, and windy, although thank goodness the wind is now down around the 14-16 mph instead of in the 20's. Gusts still up there, though. I'm just hoping that there is some shelter for parts of the course.
I haven't even packed yet, but mentally I'm ready. I can handle the bad weather for a few hours, no biggie. And I did the work this cycle - time to perform! Our team got a huge mental boost last week when one of our members, Michelle, headed to CIM to race. She ran a big PR of 2:43, and became an Olympic Trials Qualifier! Tracking her was so exciting, and we really felt like that was a team victory. She's our team's first OTQ! I'm hoping to channel some of her strength and grit this weekend and pull off a PR, as well.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
On the plus side, at least you didn't go to the AirBnB and end up with bed begs! Annoying that you had to switch, but it seemed it all worked out for you. I think you can totally get your goal-- your training has been really solid. We'll be running at the same time and I will be thinking of you.
ReplyDeleteI'm also relieved that the AirBnB told you about the bed bugs. But yuck! Glad you were able to line something else up.
ReplyDeleteYou've worked hard! I can't wait to see how you do this weekend! Sending you lots of good thoughts and wishes that the forecast keeps improving!!