Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Final prep for Austin - Less than 4 days

OK, I'm done training... Well, almost, anyway.  I don't want to run much more before Sunday.  


I'm experiencing the all-too-common, psychologically driven feeling of fatigue that comes with the late stages of taper.   I want to be clear.  The runs aren't hard.  It's just that I don't see their benefit and I can't wait to get through them.

It's time to drop the mileage and focus on the mental preparation.  I just want to eat right, sleep and relax.

I'm going to rest tomorrow, or maybe run an easy 3 miles or so.  I may take Friday off altogether.

I have one more day of work.  We leave on Friday morning for Austin.  We'll be staying with J's aunt, who lives 2.5 miles from the start.

Today, I did the usual 2-mile at goal marathon pace like I do every marathon training cycle on Pfitz's program.  I did it on the treadmill at 2% grade.  After a couple of days of nice weather which allowed for outside runs, today was windy, cold, rainy and crappy.

Early forecast in Austin right now shows a chance of showers, but really comfortable running temps.  It's not surprising that I could get drenched ... again.  

I'm expecting near ideal conditions on Sunday morning.  I am fully aware that this could be my only shot of earning a sub-3:00 marathon.  Life continues to get more complicated and I'm not getting any younger.  

That being said, I am fully prepared to go for it.  I'm psyched.  I am going to kill this marathon on Sunday.  I'm going to leave it all out on that Austin course.  On Sunday, I will run the best marathon of my life.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good luck on Sunday. Looking forward to seeing you break 3 hours.

jen said...

Good luck this weekend Ryan! That sub-3 is yours. Can't wait to hear all about it, it's going to be an awesome story. Enjoy it. :)

monicac2 said...

I love it! Can't wait to read all about it!

Kevin said...

Man, I'm rooting for you. As Al Davis might say, "Sub 3 is going down and its going down hahhhd!"

Bimibatoo said...

Ryan I am totally rooting for you too. You probably do not want any advice but here is some anyway ... no matter how good you feel stick to your target 6:48-6:51 marathon race pace no matter how tempted you are to go faster early on. I will be watching for your new posted time of 2:xx:xx whatever it is. Easy as she goes remember, race pace and no faster until you are well into the last miles.

Arcane said...

Good luck this weekend. I'm confident you can do it.