Getting so close to the Oregon trip and marathon weekend! We’re leaving in four weeks from tomorrow (well..as long as my husband’s effing passport is here in time…if not then only I will be leaving..) and taking five days to drive from Vancouver to the Oregon coast down to Florence and then inland to Eugene! Woooohooo!! Track Town, USA! I think the relaxed road trip with no super long stretches of driving will be a good way to distract myself during race week.
Four of my most favourite run friends from Victoria and Van are also running and we are all meeting there on Friday before the Sunday race. Everyone is having a great training cycle and our group chat is getting more stoked and more funny by the day.
Today was the biggest workout I have ever run, ever! My Garmin decided yesterday that my training status was “overreaching” and it psyched me out a tiny bit, which I know is so dumb. I didn’t want to get out of bed this morning either and in the first few kilometres of the warm-up I briefly wondered if it was going to be an off day…but by now I’ve learned not to listen to those kinda thoughts.
I threw on some tunes sooner than planned – usually I wait until the workout actually starts, but I needed to distract my monkey brain and get some rhythm, and it worked.
12km warm-up, 5x3km at goal marathon pace with 1km floats in between (not a usual recovery pace but more medium) and then 4km warm-down for 35km total! Frig!
Gel and water every 30 minutes, great weather, Saucony Endorphin Pros and one of my besties meeting up for ten of my kilometres = success. All five of the 3k intervals were at or even a teeny bit faster than A-Goal pace. I finished strong and feel so extremely proud of that effort. When I started running in 2013, I NEVER would I have thought I could run 35km at that pace!
Although I do of course have a range of time goals, my main goal in Eugene is to run a strong, smart race with bang-on fuelling and a mature and positive attitude, and to avoid any major sag in pace in the last 10k. It really is going to be a celebration to run the distance after more than two and a half years.
Marathon number 13, I am coming for you. Two weeks til the taper begins!
JammieKomadina 