Catching up
ORN: 4 miles (each day, today and yesterday), plus 15 miles biking (9 yesterday, 6 today). Not much slower than normal, but no incline, and trying hard not to speed things up or work hard.
Let me start with this:
AAAARGH!
Okay, now that's out of the way. I hate tapering. Hate it, hate it, hate it. Every little ache, every little twinge, every little seed of doubt is magnified until it becomes a towering oak of doubt and uncertainty. It's not a question of making my target time, it becomes a question of finishing at all. It doesn't matter that the weather is almost ideal for me. It doesn't matter that, in my saner moments, I am looking forward to this race. No, it's loopy-land for me, until 8 am on Sunday. Then I can return to my "normal" self, inasmuch as I can ever be called normal.
I did go out shopping today for race supplies. 26.2 miles on asphalt and concrete has me a little leery about my current shoes and knees, so I bought some inserts and will try them out tomorrow and Friday. They may not make much physical difference, but the placebo effect might be heard loud and clear. I also picked out some cheap, disposable gloves. I have a hat which I had planned on wearing through the race anyway, and haven't decided on whether I will wear a long or short-sleeved tech shirt, but most of my pre-race attire is assembled. And I won't care if I never see my warmup clothes again - they were disposable when I bought them, and that's what I plan on doing to them.
Yesterday, I played a quick round of "Stump the Marathon Organizers." It's a simple game - I watched the course video, and realized that a course preview at an effective speed of almost 160 mph doesn't tell me something that I did want to know: Are most of the roads asphalt, or concrete? As any runner will tell you, one of those surfaces is hard, painful, and gruelling, and the other is a fiendish torture device designed by Satan himself.
Okay, it's not that bad, but compared to nice soft trails, both are pretty bad. But one is only slightly bad, and I'd like to know which it is. Fortunately, Leah provided me with an answer, that most of the roads are probably asphalt. Of course, the marathon people told me that most of the roads are probably concrete. I'll ignore their reality, and substitute my own, and choose asphalt for my running surface.
Tonight is time for making my list, and checking it twice. Tomorrow, I pack up everything I might possibly need, and a few things besides, and then it's almost showtime. Thanks to the oddities of the beta blogger stuff, I may not be able to post until Monday night, so, O Loyal Reader(s), I might be incommunicado for a brief time. Thanks for your support, and I will actually post a race report, though it may be little more than "Ouch. That sucked. My time was X:XX:XX."
Let me start with this:
AAAARGH!
Okay, now that's out of the way. I hate tapering. Hate it, hate it, hate it. Every little ache, every little twinge, every little seed of doubt is magnified until it becomes a towering oak of doubt and uncertainty. It's not a question of making my target time, it becomes a question of finishing at all. It doesn't matter that the weather is almost ideal for me. It doesn't matter that, in my saner moments, I am looking forward to this race. No, it's loopy-land for me, until 8 am on Sunday. Then I can return to my "normal" self, inasmuch as I can ever be called normal.
I did go out shopping today for race supplies. 26.2 miles on asphalt and concrete has me a little leery about my current shoes and knees, so I bought some inserts and will try them out tomorrow and Friday. They may not make much physical difference, but the placebo effect might be heard loud and clear. I also picked out some cheap, disposable gloves. I have a hat which I had planned on wearing through the race anyway, and haven't decided on whether I will wear a long or short-sleeved tech shirt, but most of my pre-race attire is assembled. And I won't care if I never see my warmup clothes again - they were disposable when I bought them, and that's what I plan on doing to them.
Yesterday, I played a quick round of "Stump the Marathon Organizers." It's a simple game - I watched the course video, and realized that a course preview at an effective speed of almost 160 mph doesn't tell me something that I did want to know: Are most of the roads asphalt, or concrete? As any runner will tell you, one of those surfaces is hard, painful, and gruelling, and the other is a fiendish torture device designed by Satan himself.
Okay, it's not that bad, but compared to nice soft trails, both are pretty bad. But one is only slightly bad, and I'd like to know which it is. Fortunately, Leah provided me with an answer, that most of the roads are probably asphalt. Of course, the marathon people told me that most of the roads are probably concrete. I'll ignore their reality, and substitute my own, and choose asphalt for my running surface.
Tonight is time for making my list, and checking it twice. Tomorrow, I pack up everything I might possibly need, and a few things besides, and then it's almost showtime. Thanks to the oddities of the beta blogger stuff, I may not be able to post until Monday night, so, O Loyal Reader(s), I might be incommunicado for a brief time. Thanks for your support, and I will actually post a race report, though it may be little more than "Ouch. That sucked. My time was X:XX:XX."
posted by Garou at 10:56 PM
2 Comments:
Good luck on your race!!!
Look forward to the report
Great job today!! That's an awesome time!
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