Beginning this week, I embark on my 14th journey of training to prep for a 26.2 race. It was a decision that wasn't made until just 2 days ago. It had been in my mind for quite some time but finally made the commitment on Sunday. I registered for the Twin Cities Marathon, which will take place on October 6, 2013. A lot went into this decision.
After a successful but taxing journey to Chicago last summer, I spent nearly 6 months recovering and rehabbing my injured foot. This initially made my decision to take 2013 off of marathoning easy. However, as I've come back strong from the injury, the marathon bug was starting to bite at me. I also was beginning to struggle with the training I had been trying to put myself through. Training for shorter, faster races led me to quickly realize that many years of marathon training left me unable to get the necessary leg turnover to be competitive in these races like I thought I could be...needless to say, my body thrives on running long distances at a steady pace!
The biggest reason that led me to this decision was the fact that I was struggling to keep myself motivated to get out the door each morning without a race or goal to completely focus on. Having a marathon to prepare for keeps me focused, gets me excited, and especially doing my "home" marathon for the first time in 3 years is really motivating me.
Only a few days in to the training and things are off to a great start. Today, I ran a Threshold workout of 2 x 2 miles at a goal of 6:00 per mile pace with 3 minutes recovery in between. I ended up running 11:45 and 11:53. The pace felt good, right about where my Threshold pace should be.
As my marathon training progresses throughout the summer, I will share different workouts that I am doing, many of which I have experience with and have worked extremely well for me, but I also intend to try a few things differently this summer as well.
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