"Nothing splendid has ever been achieved except by those who dared believe that something inside them was superior to circumstance"~Bill Barton
Last night I ran for the first time in a week. 3 miles @ an 8:45 pace. Things felt good and my knee felt fine. However, being my blog, I feel like it's my place to express my true feelings.......I'm optimistically cautious.
I'm not out of the woods yet. I know that my knee is touch and go right now and I'm asking it to just hold out for 5 more weeks. It's not perfect and I'm reminded of that from time to time throughout the day. I stand up from a meeting and "boom" there it is reminding me of the new challenge that lies ahead in these coming weeks.
In light of last weeks set back, I flipped my training schedule around a bit. Obviously last week was my down week. My intentions are to train hard in the next 3 weeks, with my top mileage being a 21 or 22 mile run on December 27th. That allows me 21 days of taper and recovery for the Marathon on the 18th. Again, staying true to my feelings....I'm scared that I won't make it to the start line ready to meet my goal of sub 4.
The next 3 weeks are crunch time. This is the time where you focus on every run, every strength training session, every meal, every hour of sleep to be QUALITY. This is the also the point in training where you ask your friends and family for support. Support in the form of encouragement, support in the form of flexibility, support in the form understanding, support in the form of just listening or reading these rants leading up to race day.
I feel very fortunate to have been running for 2.5 years with no real injuries. Now that I'm faced with one I'm choosing to look at it as just another obstacle standing in the way of my goal. I'm a firm believer that you can do anything you set your mind to.....sometimes you just have to push through a few more obstacles. Pile it on!
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Polar Express December 2010
15 years ago
3 comments:
You can do everything you set your mind to...think of all the things so far that you set your mind to, and accomplished!
Just thought I would mention I'm listening to your rant! I'm a good friend!! :)
Hey man, don't forget that you've got a whole STACK of Cry Cards you haven't used yet. Feel free to bust one out if you need to. :)
But seriously, I'm reminded of a quote from the famous philosopher, Jedi Master Yoda, who said: "Do, or do not. There is no 'try.'" Physical limitations (like a stupid balky knee) can trump mental preparation. But you KNOW you can run a marathon in under 4 hours. There is no doubt about it. It's just a FACT! A fact just as real as the sun rising and setting or the changing of the seasons. So it's not a matter of *trying* to run that marathon in under 4 hours, its simply a matter of doing that which you already know will happen. Unless your knee prevents you from doing it, which would be an unfortunate but not permanent setback. You'll just need to read up on keeping your knee healthy so that your next marathon will be the one you run in under 4 hours.
I will be running with you in spirit. When you're feeling like you can't go on at mile 25, I'll be there next to you (in spirit) telling you some stupid story about my wife throwing up on people or me injuring myself in some spectacular way to keep your mind off the pain ("I CAN'T!") and help you push through that wall ("I WILL!").
Keep it light....
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