This past month has flown by. I cannot believe that is 7 weeks till race day; it’s coming up so fast! I finally registered in Calgary Marathon after putting it off for no reason in particular. Registering in a race always gives me a certain amount of anxiety because it means you are committed no matter what and now there is an expectation to perform on race day. There is a lot of unknown that can happen on race day: weather, nutrition, how well you are going to sleep the night before etc, yet the training you put in now, that you have already put in is truly what is going to make you strong and ready on race day. I try not to think about race day to much ahead of time, keeping it calm and positive throughout training. Anxiety will inhibit you from reaching your potential in running, easier said than done I know. Keep fighting it, rely on your support system and knowing your training is strong and consistent.
As for my training in March it went well, although I don’t remember to many specific workouts as the month has disappeared on me. I honestly only ever get 4 runs a week in. Occasionally if I am lucky I can get 5 in and some weeks its only 3-however not often. I know most run schedules for marathon training expects you run 5-6 times a week. I honestly would love to run 5 or 6 days a week it’s just not possible unless I want to be getting up at 4am to get workouts in. I am genuinely more of fan of my sanity than I am of training; give and take right? I think at some point I will be ready to commit that time to running. At this time, I am still making improvements in the training that I am doing; so, I’m trying not to sweat the extra days in other programs.
In March, I managed to get in yoga days and ski days in addition to my regular running days. Yoga is one activity I need to do more often, and on regular basis. I love yoga, I never use to love it, I used to think it was silly especially with all whole spiritual side, I never thought I was getting a good enough workout in; now I am so thankful that I found hot yoga and how rewarding it can be. It is very relaxing for both the body and mind, and while in hot yoga classes I feel and see my body sweating and working hard therefore gives me peace that it is in fact a needed workout in my week. It is so helpful to loosen up tight muscles. It is embarrassing when I can’t touch my toes when sitting up straight and everyone else is almost bent in half. I find my body has strengths in other areas of yoga such as balance or core strength I don’t feel way. I know what my body is capable of and I love seeing it work in different ways; eventually I will be able to touch my toes and in the meantime I am completely okay with not being able to. Yoga is an incredible reminder that we all have different strength and weakness. It is good way to learn from each other, to take what others do well and channel it into your own training your own life.
March also was month that I completed my first over 30km run- honestly it was not a good run. I felt quite tried the entire time and just was thinking to myself omg if I can barely run 32km at long slow pace how am I ever going to be run farther this and at race pace!! I know we have all had these thoughts. After a few reassuring talks from my mom; who is also a marathon runner, I was reminded that we all have bad days in training and what you do before long runs weather its rest or working, your nutrition, the amount of sleep you get can all add to how you perform on any given run. This run was first of the training season I truly felt like I was suffering the entire time. From past training seasons, I know that there will always be these runs and it is not indication of how you are going to do on race day. Keep up the positive thinking and keep looking to the next run.
Update: This totally works because today, 2 weeks after my 32km run I went out for 28Km run, it felt consistent, completely manageable, fun in its own way and I finished solidly with last 5km at race pace. I was running alone today, which just helped me settle into a comfortable pace. I felt strong throughout the run and I was surprised to see the pace I was running was decently faster than I complete most long runs at (avg 5:40 instead of my normal 6:05). It was excellent to see that pace felt natural, I did not feel that I was pushing myself to achieve it, that could continue on at the pace for a period of time. Today’s run was solely about me and my body and how far it has come over the last 2 years of running. It makes me feel confident about my progress over the past year and excited to see how I will perform on race day.
Now to focus on this last full month of full training: all the big long hard runs coming up, no more down weeks until taper before the race. It is a little daunting, but I love challenges and I am very stubborn so all in all it should be fun!
I’d love to hear how all your training is going and race goals for the upcoming seasons!
Also, if you have any questions about your training or want some advice or just to chat running feel free to message me!
