Racing

When do I get to treat the next race as a RACE for me? My plan for this year was to finish a ½ IM in less than 6 hours. I did not achieve that goal, my stupid hernia and hernia surgery got in the way. (Did you know that endurance athletes, esp. runners are prone to hernias? I didn’t. All that jostling of your insides against your abdominal wall can, apparently, find weaknesses in the wall over time. More sit-ups!?!) So my big goal race for this past year, the Spirit of Racine Tri in July became a swim only for me. And I took some time off from running and biking in training. Phooey. I did get to do the Colorado Relay in September 4 weeks post-surgery, I just did a relay leg in the duke city marathon with some friends 2 weekends ago, and on a whim and an invitation from J., went to do the Soma Quarterman triathlon in Tempe AZ last weekend. So the fall has been fun, but… I miss racing. (It’s kinda scary to type that out there for people to see as I could be held accountable. Fear of failure is a b!@%ch.) Last fall I got to race some fun races. This fall… I got to participate in some fun races. Totally different feel. Very enjoyable, there’s been great company and good times. I like “doing” races. But now I want to do a few races where I have a time goal, I want to test myself.

I’d planned to try to get a marathon PR this fall/winter. My friends are doing the Cal International Marathon in Sacramento in December. That seems like a good goal. But, there’s a problem. I haven’t been training towards that goal. My running mileage is not where it should be. Over the last 6 weeks, my weekly totals are 6, 0, 40, 4, 12, 17… Just a wee bit variable. I’m proud of that 40 mile total – I did that over four days in Door County, WI. And it was gorgeously fun. I am not so pleased to see the zero, the 6, or the 4…..

I have 6 weeks to get ready for Cal International. Two of those weeks are light taper weeks right before the race. I know I can finish the marathon, but can I actually race it on the training I’ve been doing? I think I can probably get a PR – my best marathon time to date was at the Caldera trail marathon this year at 5:13. I think I might be able to beat 4 hours on the road if I train consistently over the next 6 weeks. It frustrates me to realize that with a little consistency, the question might have been whether I could beat 3:40. But I’ll try to let that go – that I can’t change. (Grr.) If I could just learn that consistency lesson, I think I could be a lot faster, and a lot happier with myself. Bah, who am I kidding? If it wasn’t the consistency thing, it’d be something else.

So I wonder, do I train and race to the best of my ability for a race in 6 weeks? Or do I pick another marathon further in the future, and really train for that?

Right now, I think I’ll train for Cal International. I have other races in my sights for the spring. I think I’ll race my best on Dec. 7th, and take whatever I can do on that day. I have an 18 mile run scheduled for Sunday. If it goes ok, I’ll register for the marathon.