« virtuous by comparison | Main | the day after »
January 28, 2008
hope springs from training
The marathon training season has begun. Clearly, right now I cannot cannot cannot hack the hours of daily training that preparing for a marathon requires. But I pine for the set structure of those weeks, knowing which days are early-up-and-out days, which are gone-until-noon days, which are sanctioned sit-on-your-duff and recovery-eat days.
So, instead, I'm training for the half. Still some structure, but none of the extraordinary time commitment. Instead of 18 weeks, I only need 12. Instead of 3 twenty-mile Saturdays (which really take up the whole day; 4 hours of running and 12 hours of couch riding), there are a couple 10 and 12 days, which are completely doable and uncrippling.
The training schedule makes me feel a little like normal again. Moving into the schedule reminds me that the weather will not be cold and the ground covered in feet of snow forever--by the time the race comes runners will hope the day doesn't get too hot.
What's more, I'm running with J. It will be her first half, and so my role as running-support-buddy makes it so that her goal (to finish) trumps any goal I would set for myself. That is, her goal is my goal. And I like that.
Posted by mryonker at January 28, 2008 08:21 AM
Comments
Normalcy is good. Particularly when so much else in your life seems to be in flux. That's why I'm eating potato chips & dip while grading. And watching Star Trek: Voyager.
Posted by: susansinclair at January 28, 2008 05:23 PM
Yes. The push for a return to something that resembles a life of predictability is overwhelming me right now. It's all I think about. "When things are normal again..."
Posted by: madeline at January 28, 2008 06:21 PM
OK. That's it. I'm dragging myself from my reader and going for a hike. Thanks!
Posted by: anna at January 29, 2008 03:32 PM
What training program are you using?
Posted by: cbd at February 1, 2008 10:28 PM
I applaud your efforts to run a half! (Despite its "half" name, it's still a "full" 13.1...) I am wondering if you'd be interested in wear testing some Oiselle apparel? We're a new women's running apparel company based in Seattle (more info on our site, provided). Short of the $75K it costs to take out a full page in Runner's World (yes, that's the true cost), we're trying to spread the word via the blog family...and women runners. :) Please let me know if you're interested, and again, good luck with the training!
Posted by: Sally Bergesen at March 1, 2008 02:21 PM
Good job training for the half, which is about twice as much as I ever have done. Good luck.
Posted by: Phong Chieng at March 10, 2008 04:55 PM