May 20, 2008

Marathon Goals

Yesterday Nitmos posted about how to set your race goals. I don’t think I necessarily fit into any of those categories, but I totally agree with Viper’s comment, “I’m more of the pick-an-arbitrary-time-that-sounds-good-and-be-pissed-off-when-I-don’t-beat-it-even-if-I-PR goal setter.” Boozers unite!

I’ve heard that for your first marathon, your goal should just be to finish, and you shouldn’t set any goals beyond that. Pshaw. I’m going with 4:15 as my goal. That’s a 9:44 mile, which sounds a little slow, but in my only >20 mile run, I did 9:55. I’m thinking I was not well-rested and not well-fueled when I did that, so I can probably do a bit better. Plus, my manager and I spent some time last week looking up celebrity marathon times, and he informed me that if I couldn’t beat Oprah (4:29:20), I was pathetic. (Then again, he also thinks he could do a marathon right now, with no training and not even a regular workout regimen, and come in under 5 hours).

Anyway, in case I fail, I thought it would be a good idea to post a list of excuses for why I don’t meet my goal.

1. Some stupid girl wearing stilettos stepped on my bare foot on Sunday at Bay to Breakers (halfway done writing the report; will post it today/tonight). It’s a little bit purple and bruised, and just a teeny bit sore when I walk on it, but I’m wearing heels so hopefully it will be fine with sneakers. I sincerely hope I don’t pull a Frayed Laces and discover mid-race that my foot was actually broken and I ran anyway.

2. Last night I committed the big no-no of trimming my nails/blisters before the marathon. My feet got pretty gross from Sunday’s race in bedroom slippers, so I thought I’d clean them up a little bit. Unfortunately, I removed some dead skin that apparently wasn’t dead, so my right ring toe (I don’t wear rings on my toes, so can I still call it that if it’s a toe instead of a finger?) is hurting a bit. To bandaid or not to bandaid?

3. The flight yesterday sucked. I got stuck in an aisle seat, which wouldn’t have been a huge deal except the guy in the window seat didn’t understand the common courtesy of staying in his seat. The entire plane was sleeping, except for the pilot (I hope) and the two of us, because he kept waking me up (literally shaking my shoulder) to get up and stretch. If you want to do that, especially on a red eye where people are trying to sleep, book an aisle seat and leave me alone! Not sure if I’ll have the time this week to catch up on sleep, but I sure hope so.

4. I’m breaking the cardinal rule of long-distance races, which is not to do anything different on race day than you’ve done in training. I’m going to be wearing a brand new shirt (the design has changed slightly since I last posted about it, but I’ll take pics of it at the actual race). I’m also going to use BodyGlide, which I should have been using all along because on my long runs I get some chafing on my chest from my sports bra (TMI?). Finally, I’m half-debating getting new shoes, because mine are kind of worn out. I meant to do that weeks ago, because I know it’s really stupid to wear new shoes for a marathon. But if I get the same model and then break them in throughout the rest of this week, maybe they’d be okay? That brings me to my final excuse…

5. You’re supposed to rest up before a marathon, but I feel weird not working out (yes, I’m an exercise addict). My plan is to ease up and not to do any hardcore leg resistance training, but legs are kind of necessary for most cardio, so I’ll prob do some running/stairclimbing/dancing. I’ll start tapering for real on Friday, two days before the race. Also, I boozed quite a bit on Sunday (two entire bottles of wine in just a few hours) and don’t plan to lay off the sauce this week if presented with any opportunities. I think I run better after alcohol, but more experienced drinkers than I include booze breaks in their pre-race strategy, so who knows.

If I fail, now you know why.

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8 thoughts on “Marathon Goals”

  1. Thanks for the links. They always say make sure you get to the starting line healthy, but I think it’s more important to get your liver to finish line thirsty.

    Good luck not being pissed off about missing your goal. No matter what it’s a heck of an achievement.

  2. I nearly busted a gut when I read that everyone was sleeping but you hoped the pilot wasn’t. Sorry your flight sucked with that annoying guy next to you.

    I’m not too sure about the running thing since I never did a marathon but best of luck with whatever you decide to do (take some time off or work out).

  3. They have actually found that most people in fact taper too much prior to a big race, so hey maybe you’re really doing something great!! I think you can definitely make that goal and when you get to mile 24 where you want to punch someone in the face, just try to use that towards moving forward instead. 🙂

  4. Those things that you know you shouldn’t do? Do don’t them.

    Also, the VMC marathon was my Bad Marathon Experience. It was the race that convinced me that if I was going to take racing marathons seriously, then I need to take training for marathons seriously too.

    One tip: miles 8-12 in VMC are tough (at least they were on last year’s course). A long out and back down — then up — a hill. Take it easy on that part. And…there’s a big hill at mile 15 which is a blast because it’s lined with sceaming spectators. The hill looks worse than it is too.

    Have fun on Sunday!

  5. 1. I hope it feels better soon. Stupid girl!

    2. Ask at a pharmacy for 2nd Skin. It’s a bandaid that really helps relieve blisters (their “Burn Pads” also feel nice on blisters.) I wouldn’t wear it on race day though if you have never worn bandaids in a race or on a long run.

    3. I hate that.

    4. The shirt will probably be fine and BodyGlide I’m sure will help. I wouldn’t do the new shoes so soon.

    5. Swimming, biking, elliptical are all good cardio replacements.

    I think you’ll do great!

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