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A Pat on the Back
When my running coach would send us our weekly workouts he would often remind us to give ourselves a pat on the back. He would urge us to look back on where we started and what we had accomplished. For me, that is usually easier said than done.Not today.
I am back from an incredible weekend of running where I accomplished a huge goal. All that training for the Philadelphia Half Marathon paid off big time! I honestly don't think I have run a better race or felt more mentally prepared. Going into the race I knew I was going to PR, that was how confident I was. My goal was to finish in 2:40, which would have shed 3 minutes off my previous PR. I finished in 2:37.
Beforehand while all of us who were going to Philly kept a watch on the weather we knew we were going to have ideal conditions. It was a bit chilly in the starting corrals and that forced me to keep moving and stretching so my old muscles wouldn't tighten up but when the starting horn sounded and we got to mile two I was all warmed up and the gloves came off.
I ran without my music, by choice this time, and without any baggage. I think I ran with a runner's high for 11 miles, that is how good I felt. I remember passing the 10 mile marker and smiling because I knew I had it in the bag. Like most of my training runs I felt so strong during and after the race.
I've got some more half marathon's coming up and of course my plan is to run in the 2010 NYC Marathon but today, I am resting and celebrating (what Liz calls me) being a Philly Phinisher.
// posted by stacey on 2:56:00 PM // |
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Sunday, November 08, 2009
Finding Inspiration in an Undefeated Season
Completing an undefeated season in team sports is very rare, unless you play women's college basketball. This it seems to happen a little more often in you are Tennessee or Connecticut.Coaches have mixed feelings about these undefeated seasons. For many teams as they are going along the season they can become more focused and have a feeling of invincibility. Coaches love this part. Other times, that invincibility can have a downside where the players lose sight of the overall goal and don't think that they have anything left to learn. That drives coaches nuts. Seeking perfection can be hard.
While training for the upcoming Philadelphia Half Marathon, I have felt as though I have been on my own journey of an undefeated season. My training for this half began back on September 20 and I can honestly say that after each run I have felt so much stronger. That is not to say these training runs haven't been challenging. If you're doing speed and hill work and they don't challenge or hurt you, you're not doing them correctly. Doing all of this has made my shorter easy runs seem almost effortless and some of my longer runs seem less daunting.
One of the upsides of this is that I have been able to do this training without injury, unlike the training for the NYC Half this past August. About half way through that training I ended up straining the lower part of my hamstring on my left leg. That pretty much put an end to any speed or hill work. I spent most of that time making sure I got enough rest but to also allow me to get the necessary long runs completed. I still ran a good race that day.
During this time I have only run in one race where I had a chance to see how this training was going. I often use these races as motivation to keep pushing myself and finding some sort of inspiration along the way. That race, the Poland Spring Marathon Kickoff, did show me that the training is paying off and that if I really was on my game I could have done even better.
This training cycle has also given me the opportunity to find the best source of inspiration one can have and that's my fellow FRNY teammates and in particular the SloHoMos. Watching them all run in last weekend's NYC Marathon was incredible. I got to see them run their fastest ever marathon and to run in their first ever marathon. While on my long runs I often think about team SloHoMo and all the work they put in. They inspire me to keep pushing and working harder to meet my goals and that is how I'm going to make it to Philly undefeated.
// posted by stacey on 6:11:00 PM // |
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