Goal Time!

Ok – Here goes…Of all the blogs I have written thus far, this particular blog I debated sharing the most.  No – It does not contain secrets of past relationships or stories of silly nights out on the town.  Instead, it contains something that may be even more personal – my fall marathon goal time.

Last fall while training for my first marathon, I was even more evasive about my race-day plans.  I often shied away from the pace question or diverted the issue with a “Let’s just hope I finish!” response. 

While my coyness on the pace subject may seem odd, there were a couple of reasons for my behavior.  First, I am a firm believer in one running her own marathon – Thus, I didn’t want any feedback or judgment on my planned pace that would taint my own thoughts about the race.  Secondly, I wasn’t sure if I would succeed, and I didn’t want to feel stupid for trying or egotistical for even thinking there was a chance. 

So, why am I so publicly sharing my goal now?  Well, for starters, people don’t really care.  Talking about egotistical – It is egotistical to think that if you blow up during a race and don’t even come close to your goal time that people will be talking about you, labeling you, scrutinizing you.  The truth of the matter is that your race failure is hardly a blip in anyone’s life.

Of greater significance, I am sharing my race goal because it is so intricately weaved in to my weekly training and daily thoughts.  Studies show that a man thinks about sex 19 times a day on average.  I probably think about my marathon goal (or more accurately – reaching my marathon goal) that many times a day.  In the car on the way to work, eating lunch, reading at night before I fall asleep – my marathon goal is always at the back of my mind.  And while it may seem slightly obsessive, it is important to visualize any goal and to make yourself believe you have the ability to achieve it. 

It is also important to know your race pace so that it can properly be integrated in to your training.  The more time a runner spends running at a specific pace, the more efficient that runner’s body will become at running at that pace.  And the more race-specific training runs a runner does as she approaches the big day, the better she will be prepared for the race.  Thus, when a race-specific training run (which are more frequent later in the training period) calls for a certain number of miles at marathon pace, a runner needs to know what she expects that pace to be.

At the beginning of every training period, it’s essential to have a goal in my mind.  However, I have learned that goals are never set-in-stone declarations but instead something that may change – even multiple times – over the course of training.  For example, as I get closer to marathon day, and especially after I run the Marine Corps Half Marathon in Camp Lejeune, I will have a better idea of the probability of achieving my marathon goal in D.C.  It is quite possible that in the last month of training my race-pace will be revised.

In addition to creating flexible goals, I also like to have multiple goals.  Even for the MCM, as long as I improve on the time from my first marathon (3:16:11), it should be a success.  I like to think of it as my “safety goal.”  That way, as long as I don’t completely derail, I should hopefully still have something to feel good about.  On the other extreme, I have a stretch goal – one that is not even on the table this fall (or any time soon), but yet is encouragement to me that if I continue to work hard, I can hope to one day get there.  At work, written on a sticky note and pinned to my cubicle is the following:  “2:43 (6:13 Pace); 1:15 (5:43 Pace).” These are the full and half marathon qualifying times for the 2016 Women’s Olympic Marathon Trials.

Trainer/writer Brad Hudson wrote in his book Run Faster from the 5K to the Marathon (which I use for my training plans) “I’m fond of saying that the best goal setters achieve their race time goals only half the time.  If you always achieve your race time goals, you are surely setting them too low.”

Hudson’s quote gives me comfort because I am honestly more than a little nervous about my fall marathon – I’m scared.  I’m worried I won’t meet my goal, and the race will be a complete flop.  However, if I already knew I could run a marathon in my goal time, then why would I even try?  And we set lofty goals we may never achieve, but by pushing ourselves to get there, we will become stronger, faster runners than we would have otherwise become.

At this point you may think I am forgetting something or worse – avoiding the issue.  So, here it is:  This fall at the Marine Corps Marathon in D.C., my goal is to break three hours by running 6:50 miles. 

MCM Training Week Eight: 57 Miles 

For the record, I meant to run 55 miles this week to stay in line with the 10% rule (Don’t increase your weekly mileage by more than 10% of the total miles you ran the previous week), but evidently I’m an accountant who can’t count.  Regardless, this week was solid but nothing special.  I felt like I maybe took it a little too easy, but next week’s training plan looks to be crazy difficult. 

This Week’s Beer Choice: Mother Earth’s Second Wind Pale Ale (Kinston, NC)

I came across a six pack of this beer at the local beer shop Salud, (http://www.saludbeershop.com/) and I thought the name and print on the can were hilarious.  Does it help your run further?  I guess you may have to try it to find out!