Gambling Man

Joined Rob for a jaunt around Rock Creek Park this past Saturday, and I noted after finishing the run how stale I felt. We ran for about 1:20 and change, so about 10 miles of mostly trails. I tried to imagine extending the run for another two hours, and this only made me doubt myself. I know it doesn't work this way, but part of training for me has always been gaining the confidence to finish the goal race. This is especially so for the marathon, as I don't have a whole lot of experience to draw upon. I think I've pushed the envelope here this time around, leading me to extend my long training runs into the 3+ hour range.

But I know I'll finish, so the next inevitable question is: how fast? One of the themes of this training cycle has been simplicity. To me the most basic training technique is envisioning myself as "practicing" for a specific goal. So I've aligned my training with the goal of running at a moderate pace for as long as I can. Occasionally I strung together some faster miles. Otherwise no track work, no specific tempo runs, just running for long distances on accumulated fatigue. For better or worse, I really pushed myself in trying to maintain consistency. I've never quite had this experience in terms of running on dead legs, nagging injuries, and almost getting to the point of disgust with this damned thing.

I barely kept track of time and distance per run, and certainly don't have a fancy log of miles as I have in the past. The interesting thing is even if I did, I'd still be ruminating on this. And don't get me wrong - my lack of timekeeping has rarely been the result of disinterest. I've just been busy and this has merely become my default mode out of necessity.

What this is all leading up to is that I've accepted that I have to set some sort of goal for Saturday. My best judgment of my training suggests that I could reasonably finish around 3:20. As far as the lower limit of that time goes, I have no clear idea. If things fall into place and I really feel good, I'm comfortable with the idea of maintaining a pace in the low 7's. Below that and things get fuzzy.

So the most important goal is to finish. My baseline pacing target will be 7:26 per mile. If the planets align, I have a tailwind, and I haven't lost hope in the first 10k, then I'll push it a little and see what happens. The latter is of course a big risk with such a long distance, but I've always been good at improvisation. If it feels right, I anticipate I'll lay my cards on the table.