Columbus Marathon: Weeks 8-10

Goal revision and future marathons
With the end of Week 10, there are now only three full weeks of hard training for the Columbus Marathon before I begin my three-week taper.  It is clear at this point that I am not going to be in a position to challenge the PR I set in Boston, and I am trying to take the pressure off myself a little bit at a time.

I would love to say that after the slow start of the first seven weeks of training that I lit it up the last three weeks.  While I am pleased with the outcome, it was not without significant obstacles.  Without making too big a deal about it, it is clear that that the fall I took in the backyard early in my training had long lasting effects.  After the tailbone pain started to subside, I had severe back spasms - first in my neck and then in my mid-back - in subsequent weeks.  While most of that is now largely resolved, it affected both the quantity and quality of my training runs - as did the ridiculously hot weather that persisted until just last week.

Breaking up the monotony of long solo runs on the weekends will be my participation in the Denver Half Marathon this weekend.  I will not be attempting any PR's, but just getting back the feeling of running in a timed event with other people around me.  I would have done it long before now, but life sort of got in the way and prevented that from happening.

In many ways, this training cycle is like the weeks leading up to the New York City Marathon.  I knew I was not going to try to set a PR, but I was also pressuring myself to get all my runs in.  While that marathon nearly killed me, what I wrote in Week 10 of that training cycle is still valid:

1. I am running the New York Marathon for fun - and not trying to set a PR, and;
2. Running is supposed to be fun no matter what...and not something to be stressed about. It mostly defeats the purpose!

 Advice taken. Attitude checked.

Columbus is a great city, and I am looking  forward to seeing it from a perspective I have not seen before.  17,000 of us will take off from the start in the shadow of the state capitol, and the 6000 marathoners will say goodbye to the half-marathoners before taking a loop around the northern part of the city - including The Ohio State University.  The course is fairly flat and not too difficult.  An 8:00 minute/mile pace puts me across the finish line in under 3:30 hours, which will be just fine with me.

2011 Columbus Marathon Complete Course Overview from dan farkas on Vimeo.

*****

I also recently made a decision about my next marathon.  For the first time since the fall of 2009, I won't have to worry about starting a new training cycle for a marathon immediately after I finish the one in front of me.  Since the time I ran my first half marathon in June 2009 through this  October's marathon, I will have run 5 marathons, 4 half marathons, 5 10k's, and numerous 5k's.  Races and training runs total 2800 miles since March of 2008, and I think my body is starting to talk to me now.

After October, my next marathon will be in the fall of 2012.  I'll register and train for the Chicago Marathon, which is one of the biggies I want to check off my "bucket list."  Between now and then?  Shorter races - nothing more than a half-marathon.

My lovely bride is skeptical...which could be valid.  :)