Two Things To Post...

It's always so strange how you sign up for a marathon in April and you think "oh yeah I got plenty of time before the race even gets here". As I looked at my calendar and realized that I now have only 12 days until the last race of the my 2017 season; I realize that mentally and emotionally I'm no where near ready. The mental part of all this comes from thinking about running a whopping 26.2 miles. I've done it 18 times before this but it always seems impossible when thinking about it before a race. My coach suggested I come up with a race mantra. I remember my best race mantra being "I want the Oval" back in 2016 when I went back up to Ironman Lake Placid to redeem myself and finish unfinished business from 2010. I want to think of something spectacular like that but what can top that? When it comes to being emotionally ready for a marathon; face it I never can be. There are so many emotions that I go through with training and race day carries even more. My goal is to show how much I love the sport and respect it. I'll make sure I smile but I always tell myself it's ok to cry happy tears; especially at the finish.

I just finished writing out my training plans in my notebook. I need to have a better attitude this week. I need to be more confident in my abilities to nail my workouts. I also need to show more confidence when I write down notes for my coach to see when I put comments in Training Peaks. This past week of training I was at an all time low. I nailed most of my workouts but the ones that I didn't; I beat myself up in the comments. That just needs to stop. I'm committing to doing a better job of using different words to express how my workouts went and how I felt during them.