So the first marathon I ran, I just wanted to survive it. And survive, I did, coming in at just under five hours.
That time was respectable enough for someone running her first marathon.
The second marathon I ran, I was pretty nonchalant about it. I had survived the first one. This one would be cake.
Except it wasn't. It was horrible, and my time reflected that -- almost 5-and-a-half hours.
My third marathon -- the Chevron Houston Marathon -- I want to do right, and I want to finish in 4 hours, 30 minutes or less.
The marathon is Jan. 19, 2014, so I have time to plan and research. I love to plan and research so this could be a good thing.
It could also be a bad thing. I really don't have to start training until mid-September, so I have plenty of time to think about it and second-guess myself and get overwhelmed. It's already started, and I just found out I was in on Monday!
To run a 4:30 marathon, I need to maintain a 10:07/mile pace. I can sustain that comfortably for about 8 miles now. I need have to work on doing that for...gulp...18.2 more miles.
I bought a training plan from a Web site that I visit quite often. They have podcasts and an e-mail mailing list and I enjoy both.
Problem: It would call for me to cut my weekly mileage in half for the majority of the training, and also require that I take rest days, which I do not, as a rule.
My 40-miles-a-week thing keeps me going mentally, emotionally, and physically. If I drop down to 20...well, that's going to be horrible all the way around.
So, I'm looking up more plans to see what they offer. Luckily the plan I've already downloaded wasn't very expensive, so if I don't go with it, I'm not out a lot of money.
I really want that 4:30 finish.
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