Saturday, July 24, 2010

Change of Plans

I creamed this nail at the Wisconsin Marathon in early May and the sucker refuses to fall off (the above photo was taken probably 2 weeks ago). It is barely hanging on at this point. From all this multiple marathoning, everything seems to be holding up reasonably well except for my toenails. 50% of my toes are in some state of disrepair.

Sunday: 9 miles @ 10:06 pace; Love my Sunday runs -- well rested and no pressure.

Tuesday: 10 miles including 8 miles @ 9:02 pace; This went pretty badly. First, I was probably 15 seconds off pace. Second, I took about 5 scattered walking breaks. This was supposed to be a tempo run but what with all the walk breaks it felt like an interval workout. Third, if it was an interval workout it was a pretty sad once since I was running so slowly even with the rest.

Thursday: 8 miles @ 10:13 pace; Since I felt so off Tuesday I took Wednesday off and ran Thursday instead. I felt a little sluggish and I wouldn't classify it as a psychological come-back from Tuesday's run.

Friday: No running because...

So there has been a little switcheroo to my upcoming Sunday race. I have been thinking of this for a few weeks and just never got around to posting about it. There are a lot of reasons why it made sense to do so, therefore I've switched from the half marathon to the full marathon tomorrow. I switched around a few workouts the last two weeks anticipating being able to switch (they were doing at-the-expo switches only at this point so I didn't find out for sure until yesterday). Two days notice for a marathon? Why not?

Understandably most people switch at the expo from the full to the half. The women who took my transfer request said, "Oh, what fun! We don't get a lot of these. Good for you!" Most people think it is kind of kooky, but I am trained to run 26 miles at this point. In fact, I was supposed to do 20 miles this coming Friday and I assure you 26.2 in a race situation is much more enjoyable than 20 solo. Also, I already had to wake up at dark o'clock tomorrow and running the full allows me to take a further-from-home race off my calendar for the year.

This is going to be a totally different race than last year. Last year I trained specifically for this race and it was definitely one of the A-races of my life. I am in better shape right now than I was a year ago and could probably set a course PR if I put my mind to it. But, I am looking at the race tomorrow as a long training run and am going to challenge myself to hold back and take it really easy. I want to be able to slip right back into training next week. Santa Rosa next month is still the next mini-goal race.

I haven't decided for sure yet if I am going to run with my camera, but am leaning towards that option at this point. Hopefully I'll be back with some fun photos.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good luck tomorrow and have fun! I'll look for you at the start.

abbi said...

Have fun and good luck!

Hef's Mom said...

Roadbunner please! no more nail pictures, I just might vomit! Seriously! I can't take it! I also can't stand that little lamasil monster that lifts up the toenail! BLECK!

Sarah Woulfin said...

Oohlala-- have a great 26.2 training run ;) Hope to see ya at the Santa Rosa race....

RG said...

Just take pliers and pull them all out. Then, no more problems.

That was a great move to do that last-minute switch ... snuck up on that little devil on your left shoulder telling you to just take it easy and quit doing these stupid marathons! Ought to be a pretty nice cruise in the park. When you report, describe the course a bit - I am not at all familiar with it. Or, maybe you did last year and I forgot.

rUntoNamAste said...

Gah, gah and gaaaaaaaaaaaah at your toenail. And you still upgrade to the marathon with that? I see hardcore is the name of your game. You go girl! Good luck!

cliff said...

you should just let mario chew the nail off! kills two birds w/ one stone: he loves chewing things, and you'll finally be rid of that nail! make sure you post a pic of him doing that though.

EndorphinBuzz said...

Catching up on the blog, I hope you did well :)

Nicole said...

oh my gosh your toenail looks so painful!!!!!!!! ahhhhhhh i have two pestering too

audgepodge said...

There needs to be a warning for pics like that! Don't you care about us at all???

Good job on SFM!

Mica said...

Ughhh, I got a little nauseous looking at your toenail. Hardcore!

Wow, you are so fit right now. I can't imagine jumping to the marathon from the half on a whim. Go, RoadBunner, go!!! I hope it went well.

Marlene said...

EWW toenail! LOL!

Hope the race went well!

dawn @ running the dawn said...

toenail destruction is a badge of honor! good for you!

how exciting to switch to the full! and i totally agree with you 26.2 in a race is WAY preferable to 20 long ones by yourself. as long as it fits in with your other goals then it's awesome!

can't wait to hear all about it and enjoy the pictures