Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Fake It Till I Make It

I get it. I sound like a broken record. I feel like I am either talking about the heat/ humidity or my self-doubt when it comes to my training and attempting to qualify for the Boston Marathon. For that, I am sorry, truly, I am, but at the same time, I have to keep it real since those are a lot of the thoughts jingling around in my head these days.


The mind is a VERY powerful muscle. Sometimes I think it might be harder to train it than my legs. For example, I "know" I can run X miles, but for some reason, as soon as my mind has decided to give up on a run or tells my legs it is too "hard, long, hilly, fast, etc", my legs will give in and listen to it in a matter of nanoseconds.


In all honesty, my shorter distance runs haven't been terrible. I have been able to keep at or below my marathon pace when I am supposed to on particular runs and I am still crushing my progression runs, but my long runs... UGH! I think it has been a combination of the elements along with outside circumstances (for example, last week I gave blood the afternoon before my long run and didn't realize how much it would effect me). I remember a friend telling me "Fall PRs are made in the summer", but, man, this summer has been ROUGH!


And don't get me started on how in the world I will be able to hold my marathon pace for 26.2 MILES when it can feel like a complete struggle-fest for a mere 6 or 7. Thankfully the course of my next marathon is similar to falling down a mountain, at least for the first half, so I am banking on gravity doing a little of the hard work.


I am very grateful that the race is still over 2 months from now (although I know that time will FLY, especially since I have a 10K and 3 half marathons between now and then). My biggest hope is that I am able to get in a couple quality long runs before race day because my confidence is in DIRE need of them!

Source

So, here it is... The new game plan... I mean I guess it has been the game plan all along... Give 110% and see what I can do... But now I've gotta BELIEVE that I CAN give it my ALL and be proud of whatever the results may bring!


Any advice on training the brain? 

1 comment:

Kara said...

I stay thankful for the bad run days, I write them down so I can look back on them. It's one reason I tend to overshare when I have a bad run on social media - it speaks to me & others so you know you aren't alone. I know you are going to get those PRs. Maybe make a jamming new playlist? Read a new book, reward your run with a new song for a playlist. Keep on faking it Carlee, cause I know sooner than you expect you'll be making it! ;)