Sunday, October 07, 2007

Last Long Run

i'm getting ready to go. i just wanted to capture a few of my thoughts before heading out for a twelve miler in tilden. i was looking at my galloway book last night and studying the walk break section. the 5 run 1 walk method seems smart i've played with variations and have found it helpful but i have to tweek it on my trails runs due to the hills. i have put in a good amount of hill training. i'd say overall this has been my strength. my plan is to apply the 5:1 method where i can and to walk most of the hills.

as i mentioned most of my training has been on hilly terrain, not always trail terrain but my neighborhood and that surrounding. as mia aptly put it "girlfriend has her work cut out for her" and work is what i'll do, but i'll also remember to take in all that is unique about this race.


it's my first marathon

it spans some of the loveliest trail systems in the bay area

while my training in the last couple of months lost some momentum, thus far i've accomplished what i set out to do. physically and mentally i'm ready to take on 26.2

i really have come a long way.


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it was questionable whether or not i should of taken Brandy with me on this run. i decided to take her on account of all the walking i planned on doing. we got a late start and i decided to walk ALL hills. this meant very little actual running for the first 2 miles.

by the time we reached the first point vista on seaview i was feeling really fresh still. this walking tactic was paying off in huge dividends so far. i trotted down at a good clip and got to my next climb pretty quickly. more walking not to mention hydrating me and the dog. we'd already crossed two roads so far and i decided to cut the run a tad bit short(.5) to avoid having to re harness brandy to cross another road.

brandy would plop herself down in a shady spot from time to time or just lag behind which meant quite a bit of backtracking and running in place for me.

by the time we reached the home stretch she was really pooped and i just had to wait for her to get going this resulted in a looooooong almost 12 miler some 3 hrs plus.

she was toast by the end of the curran trail and layed prone with her nose buried in the water dish. eliciting lots of "oooh's tired pup!" and "poor baby" from passerby's. i think i pushed her too far but nothing a good nap and extra kibble won't fix.

so that's it for long training runs. now if i can just keep race day adreneline at bay and keep to my walking stratedgy i think i'll be alright. i don't really have any time goal for this race. if i could break 6 hours that would be alright by me, but i don't think that's in the cards. i didn't train for that but i have worked hard to get where i am and irregardless i've pushed through some tough barriers and am looking forward to a great day at the races.

Golden Hills Marathon
my bib# is 548

2 comments:

psbowe said...

Oh you do well, just remember to have fun and the experience will be more pleasant.

Sarah said...

You'll have a great time this weekend. Your plan is sound. Don't worry about time. Just go out there and have fun! : )