in a nutshell:
i was on.
then i was off.
then i was on again.
and i stayed. for a bit.
then i was off again.
and i stayed off.
but coach stayed with me the whole second half.
i was discouraged that the group had once again gotten so far ahead.
i thought it was going to be my week. to stay the whole time.
i was driving myself crazy with all my heavy breathing, grunting & the occasional spit,
i barely eeked out: i'm terrible company. you can go ahead.
he stayed.
he knew when i was losing focus. he'd get me back on track.
i don't even know what he said. i think he said: focus.
i felt so slow.
but i'd look at my heartrate, and knew that while it didn't feel like it,
i was going faster.
this whole feeling slow when i am actually flying thing completely eludes me.
he asked if i had anything left. i didn't know. couldn't tell.
but i tried to muster it up from somewhere.
we're close now - we can take it down for the last little bit.
up the hill. to the park.
we're done. i'm done.
elated it was over.
more elated when he tells me our pace.
first half fast. second half faster. way. faster.
it was still my week.
yay.
9 comments:
When you are on the rivet, you always feel slow. You did great. To run a fast first half and then drop the pace another 10 Seconds for the second half is great prep for the marathon.
I'll be reminding you to focus a lot on that day.
I know you will be happy when all those hard workouts are done, but then again, I'm thinking you will take a short break and go back at it again. There is something about being addicted to speed. (why do you think I get so frustrated with myself??) You get a sense of power, accomplishment, and confidence in your abilities that is hard to explain.
cool post.
very cool.
fantastic job.
wish i could feel slow and actually fly.
i'm jealous, but i'm also in awe and happy. for you.
some day will be my day.
:)
You are so on target. Each week is better than the last. Chill my little friend and enjoy the rewards of an awesome run!!!
Now I must read the other post I missed.....
Congrats! I love it when I am ON.
So, here's something I've been wondering.
Of course, I'm WAY slower than you, but I've also noticed that I can't really gauge how fast I'm going unless I'm on a treadmill or have my GPS thingy on.
So, when serious runners run marathons, do they wear GPS thingies, or do they follow a pacer or do they just check their watches every mile marker and ramp it up or down for the next mile depending on what the watch says?
vegan,
i can't gauge how fast i am going either ... and its been driving me crazy lately. in a race, i don't know my pace until i hit the button on my watch at each mile to get the split. then i try to adjust in the next mile. sometimes this works, sometimes not so much. i don't have a garmin thing, but am thinking it will solve my problem. but then of course, i need to solve the problem of how i need a sponsor to pay for all the gear i'd love to have! in the meantime, its a bit of a crapshoot - i can somewhat gauge my pace by my heartrate (i wear a heartrate monitor). but then there are the times when i feel like i am flying only to plug in the numbers to a pace calculator when i get home to find out not so much. or the times when i am flying & strangely, feel like a slug. i ran my first marathon & most races up until about 2 years ago without a watch or a care in the world what my pace was. now, for the big races - like this next marathon - my coach will pace me, and he does wear a garmin so we adjust on the fly.
Cool, thanks. I've been using my watch for the little local 5Ks I've been doing and have been thinking about using my GPS thingy but have never seen anyone else using one during a race, so thought maybe it, I don't know, wasn't done for some reason? And I don't like to stick out. On the other hand, I also don't like finishing slower than I intended to, so maybe I'll use one in my next race anyway and see if it helps or if it just makes me more nervous, ha!
That's awesome that your coach is going to pace you!
Very nice! Keep it up!
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