OH MY WORD. Can y'all believe the big race is only about two and a half weeks away?! I can't! It's now time to start tapering my training, which means lowering my long runs until race day! Yay! I'll probably do a ten miler this weekend, an eight miler next weekend, and then the half marathon.
Yesterday I ran the Greenway with two friends that have been training for the half marathon with me. Our run was somewhere between 6 and 8 miles (GPS kept losing signal) and it was a decent run compared to my average, but I'm SO slow. And running with my friends, while it definitely holds me accountable, can be so discouraging. I really should have done speed work in my training. But oh well. Next time.
Speaking of next time, my friends and I have been discussing a little whether or not we will keep running after the half. I really can't answer for sure right now, but it's definitely something I think about a lot. On one hand, it's still SO hard to me. It would be really easy to never run again after I cross that finish line on December 1st. But on another hand, I've come so far and I've never stuck with anything as long as I have stuck with running. (Sad, I know.) Plus I haven't gotten as good as I'd like to, so part of me wants to keep training after the half. There's also something really exciting about the thought of just going out for a run and not having to measure the distance to make sure I'm meeting my training requirements...you know, just going out to run for fun. I really do want to continue, so I guess the trick here will be taking a long enough break after the half to let my body recover, but not so long that I don't ever start back.
So, marathoners and half marathoners, how long of a break do y'all take after a big race like this? Or do y'all take one at all? Do y'all find it hard to start back?
Jessica
i've read/heard that the general rule to follow after you run a big race is to take off days to match the number of miles you ran. i can totally admit to taking waaaaayyy more than 13 days off from running after the half (more like 2 months...whoops...). i felt a lot like you - determined to get better and train better for the next race. Good luck!!!
ReplyDeleteI think you should try to train for a 5k next, it would mean a lot less milage and might be easier to motivate yourself. Two of my favorite workouts are finding a 3 mile course around the neighbor- I use the car odometer to make a route then running it at least on a weekly basis seeing if you can run it faster each time. Also, I like to do intervals such as running fast for 2 minutes, walk for 1 minute repeat- it gets my heart rate up and a good workout in without having to keep running straight for a long time.
ReplyDeleteHow are you? How's the taper going? Ready for next weekend??? I'm doing my first 10 miler tomorrow morning and I'm super NERVOUS!
ReplyDeleteRaegan
Hey! I'm good! I know...I haven't blogged in a while. Been so busy. The taper is going well. I think I'm ready for the race, but I'm SO nervous! Every time I think about it or somebody asks me about it I get butterflies! How did your 10-miler go?? I bet you rocked it!
DeleteIt went great. We ran super slow so it was really nice. We visited the whole time and the miles just flew by. My left knee started bothering me around 8.5 and was very painful by around 9.2. There was NO WAY I was going to stop just .8 short of my goal. I finished, but barely. I'll do a step back run of about 7 miles this weekend then try to do a smoother/less painful 10 again the next. It'll work itself out I'm sure. I had the same trouble last time I tried to really build up my mileage.
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to hear about your half! I hope you keep running after the race. It would be so sad to waste all that endurance that you've built up! You'd probably really enjoy running for fun when you don't have all the pressure of building up so many miles.
Raegan