Half Marathon Preparation - Taking Inventory
"You must purge yourself of all thoughts of self-importance and all inclination to judge yourself or others. You must go to power with humility and deep respect."
- Mike Livingston as quoted by Brad Alan Lewis in Assault on Lake Casitas
Four weeks from today I will be competing in the PF Chang's Rock 'n Roll half marathon. For me, one of the real tests of how well I will do in the actual event is to honestly evaluate my progress/status a month before the event. I did a pretty good 5 mile run today, imagined what the conditions will be like come race day. I'd like to talk a little about where I am at in my preparation, and talk about some of the critical factors of my ongoing preparation.
On the positive side, I have a pretty solid cardio base. My lungs and legs are pretty solid. I'm not at a race day peak right now which is good. I have a month really refine this base, and be in fighting shape come January 13, 2008. Overall, I'm happy with where I am right now.
One of the things that I have noticed is that Phoenix is starting to get cold. The Phoenix cold is a very dry cold. As a result, it was hard to breath this morning. I didn't really feel like I could take in the oxygen that I needed to really move. Race day has been the coldest day of the year for the past two years. In order to really steel myself for this, I'll need to do some early morning runs over the next few weeks. Getting up super early and running in cold, dry weather is going to absolutely suck, but I know that this sort of preparation will make a big difference come race day.
Additionally, the race is run on hard pavement. I usually do most of my running on dirt. I'll need to a couple runs each week on pavement to prepare my joints for the pounding that comes with racing on city streets.
Maybe the most important thing that over the next few weeks I'll need to walk a fine balance. I'll need to consistently run, do consistent roadwork on hard surfaces, but avoid injury. The upcoming Christmas break will be very important in this respect. This down time from work should allow me to focus on running while taking deep rest. I have a good window of time to work with here. The truly meaningful thing is that I need to take full advantage of this.
- Mike Livingston as quoted by Brad Alan Lewis in Assault on Lake Casitas
Four weeks from today I will be competing in the PF Chang's Rock 'n Roll half marathon. For me, one of the real tests of how well I will do in the actual event is to honestly evaluate my progress/status a month before the event. I did a pretty good 5 mile run today, imagined what the conditions will be like come race day. I'd like to talk a little about where I am at in my preparation, and talk about some of the critical factors of my ongoing preparation.
On the positive side, I have a pretty solid cardio base. My lungs and legs are pretty solid. I'm not at a race day peak right now which is good. I have a month really refine this base, and be in fighting shape come January 13, 2008. Overall, I'm happy with where I am right now.
One of the things that I have noticed is that Phoenix is starting to get cold. The Phoenix cold is a very dry cold. As a result, it was hard to breath this morning. I didn't really feel like I could take in the oxygen that I needed to really move. Race day has been the coldest day of the year for the past two years. In order to really steel myself for this, I'll need to do some early morning runs over the next few weeks. Getting up super early and running in cold, dry weather is going to absolutely suck, but I know that this sort of preparation will make a big difference come race day.
Additionally, the race is run on hard pavement. I usually do most of my running on dirt. I'll need to a couple runs each week on pavement to prepare my joints for the pounding that comes with racing on city streets.
Maybe the most important thing that over the next few weeks I'll need to walk a fine balance. I'll need to consistently run, do consistent roadwork on hard surfaces, but avoid injury. The upcoming Christmas break will be very important in this respect. This down time from work should allow me to focus on running while taking deep rest. I have a good window of time to work with here. The truly meaningful thing is that I need to take full advantage of this.
posted by Zen_Accountant at 3:38 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home