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Wednesday, October 7, 2015

What to do about the Best Damn Half?



Disclaimer: I know I have been whining about what to do with my half and I have pretty much made up my mind. BUT since I wrote this lovely blog post a couple days ago I am still going to post it! I promise you this is the last of my whining. A decision has been made, and my wonderful readers and comment-leavers have pushed me to take a risk and GO FOR IT!!!!

There are so many random thoughts swirling around my head about my half in December. I am an "all or nothing" type of person. It is just how my brain works. So in my mind, I have two options as far as race goals:

1. Run for fun.

2. PR.

That's it.

It is a shame I cannot settle for something in between the two. I either have to put enormous amounts of pressure on myself to ATTAIN SOMETHING or I have to go into it with the attitude that I don't care what happens.

There is a case to be made for both options. Unfortunately, most of my "reasons" to do one or the other are based off of FEAR.

I FEAR that if I set a high goal for myself, I will risk disappointing myself.

I FEAR that if I don't accomplish what I want to accomplish, what will my blog readers think?

I FEAR that if I train to PR I will injure myself. (I feel like I should just be thankful I can run right now and I shouldn't push the limits.)

I FEAR that if I don't go for a PR, I will be holding myself back for silly reasons.

These are my fears. My only practical reason for not wanting to go for a PR is the fact that I am traveling to Florida for the race. I will be extremely stressed about flying and being away from Paul. I will be out of my comfort zone. I will not be used to training in Florida weather. So in spite of all of these things, do I really want to to worry about a PR?

My "official" half PR right now is a 1:38. I broke it once during a training run right before I BQ'ed for the second time, but do training runs count? I guess not because I don't even remember what my official time was, although I am sure it is somewhere in the depths of my Garmin.

All this babbling. Obviously I want to PR and feel like there is a chance I could do it or else I wouldn't even consider it. I recently ran 10 miles easily at a 7:43 pace. My splits were negative, so by the end I was running in the low 7's and could have hung on for a couple more miles. About two weeks ago, I did speed work and averaged a 7:20 mile for a total of 8 miles. That included a warm up and cool down. This past Sunday, I had a great 8 miler and ran several miles in a row in the low 7s. All signs point to I that in favorable conditions, I could probably run a sub 1:38 half, which would require running 13.1 miles at a 7:23 pace.

But do I want to put that pressure on myself?

See, this is why I never race!

Hanna @ The Millennial Next Door left me a very motivating comment yesterday that I hope to take to heart:


"I know how you feel about being scared to put goals out there and not achieve them. I felt that same fear about my marathon this Spring, and now about my half marathon this fall. But then I remember: what's the worst that can happen? It's disappointing, yeah, but then you get over it and move onto the next race. It might feel awkward to report about it on the blog, but who is going to think less of you? Missing goals happens to run bloggers ALL the time. We get it.

Lauren Fleshman said something very wise about this that I always take to heart: "My goal has been to go to the Olympics. I haven't achieved it yet...but I'm no worse off for trying." In the process of striving for her goal she met her husband, won multiple championships and made tons of friends along the way. Even if you don't reach your goal, the training you do to try and achieve it will improve your running in a way that it might not have improved had you been too scared to set a goal."

Thank you, Hanna, for those wise words!
Tell me to stop taking myself so seriously!

26 comments:

  1. Meg, I think you should totally go for it. With the race day energy maintaining a sub 7:23 pace will not be that big of a push for you. You're a super strong runner and I know that you can do it. Oddly enought our 1/2 PRs are very close to each other and you can definitely pull out faster paces than I. Hope this helps your confidence in pursuing your goal. ;)

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    1. Thanks Heather, I definitely value your opinion! What kind of speed work do you do in prep for halves? I want to do a speed session once every 7-9 days and a race pace run once every 7-9 days as well.

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    2. For a half marathon I like to do four hundred meter repeats, obviously with a warm-up and cooldown plus recovery jogs in between. I also like to do mile repeats every now and again just to challenge my body.

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    3. Thank you for that info! I think mile repeats would be fun/horrible/effective. Thanks for sharing. :)

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  2. I say GO FOR IT. You might be disappointed if you don't make your goal but I promise your readers will not. I am just in awe of all you that go out there and race (and try). There is a quote that I like to think of when I feel like you do.

    "But what if I fail? Oh, but my darling....what if you fly?".

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    1. And now I have tears in my eyes from tat quote, Susan. Thank you. :) I think I need to post that in the front of my classroom.

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    2. It's a great quote, huh? Another thing I ask myself "what would you do if you weren't afraid?" Fear keeps me from doing a lot and taking risks.

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  3. Aww you're so welcome!! I'm glad my words could motivate you!

    As long as we're all dropping the powerful quotes, here's another one I like: "If your dreams don't scare you, they aren't big enough" (Eleanor Roosevelt. Not a hottie, but definitely a badass). Go for that PR. I know you have it in you. But in the meantime, don't drown yourself in pressure and overthink every run along the way. Remember, this is supposed to be fun! Focus on trying your best every day, in every run, and the results will follow. You got this!

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    1. Thank you! I like that Elanor Roosevelt quote as well!! You are just full of inspiration! You should start a blog or something. ;)

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  4. Ha! Stop taking yourself so seriously, my friend! Go out and have fun. It's hard to PR at a destination race. Especially in Florida. Make this Best Damn Race your best damn race!

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    1. I never tried PRing at a destination race but I agree, that aspect of it makes me nervous!

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  5. Well, I'm going to be the devil on your shoulder when I actually tell you to take yourself so seriously! Who says you have to choose between PR-ing and having fun?! PRing IS FUN!!!!!!!!!! You worked hard, now go kick some ASS.

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    1. LOL it sure is fun.... when the Finish line is in sight and then everything after hahaha. Thanks Suzy! :)

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  6. I understand this mentality, and I get not wanting to put your big goals out there in case you fail. But I try to remember that failure isn't final. It's a step in any process. I think it's brave to put your PR goal out there!! And holy CRAP I'm blown away by it!! 1:38? I dream of sub 2! lol

    I definitely get being on either end of the spectrum - easy or PR. But sometimes I try to aim for something in the middle, like "enjoy the race, play it smart, and finish with something you can be proud of."

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    1. I remember running marathons for "fun". I think it is easy for me to do that if I know for a fact I am not in the shape to PR. But right now I feel like I am in the shape that I could do it so it is like PRESSURE hehe.

      If I do have a goal, I think I am going to put it out there. At this point, I have been so honest that if I DON'T share my goal, it will only be because I don't want people to know I failed, which is dumb. I am not perfect.

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  7. I know how you are feeling... I am slowly getting used to the idea that my PR days are over due to a number of reasons, age, plantar fasciitis, etc... However, I am so very thankful to be back to running about 3 times per week in addition to my weight training. I have not done a race since last December... I used to do a race (mainly 5Ks) every other month or so. I am upping the ante and going to sign myself up for a 10K in December. If I have to walk some of it, so be it. That race will be considered my new baseline, not what I did 3 or more years ago. I am going to run it and enjoy it! Knowing you, even if you focus on running for fun, you may still even hit that PR!

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    1. I am glad you went ahead and signed up for the 10k! I understand wanting a baseline. I try not to compare myself to what I did years ago... but my running has really ebbed and flowed. I have had times where I was in really good PR shape and times when I was just running for fun. That is good though I think. It is just now I see I am getting into PR shape and I would hate to not go for it just because I am scared.

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  8. Yes, that weather could be a factor and that concerns me. I was thinking I could do some treadmill runs at the gym. It is always hot at the gym...

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  9. GO FOR IT! Seriously you got this! And if something crazy happens and you for some reason don't hit your goal, who cares?! No one is going to think less of you. Plus you are going to be there with Ali and Kristina, you're going to have a great time no matter what!

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    1. Oh I know I will have a fabulous time with those girls!!! I really can't wait to meet them!!!! :) Like Paul said, "The blogosphere is going to explode"

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  10. I want to be there at the finish line to see you cross in 1:37 (or faster) so badly, but for some reason I don't think I'll be finishing in 1:36 :D

    Maybe they will have a camera recording at the finish line, I think a lot of races do that now!

    YOU'RE SO FREAKING FAST!

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    1. lol you make me laugh. I am so excited to run this race with you and Ali. A PR would only be icing on the cake!

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  11. I think you should just have fun! I feel like you just got back to really running and training, and its awesome that you have come so far but I don't think you should put any pressure on yourself! Also, maybe you will PR without even trying:)

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    1. Noooo there is either I TRY or I don't lol. I think I am leaning toward going for it.

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  12. Wow, your half PR is an awesome time!!! I totally think you'll be able to PR at the race!

    I love that comment that Hanna left. Very wise!

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