Another difficult day in preparation for Boston, I had been thinking about this workout all week and dreading the effort it was going to take to get through it. It was the last week of our super-long runs and I'm really happy it's over. Running on tired legs is not a good feeling even if we only did a light 2hr spin yesterday. I'm going to feel really strange in Boston, tapered, rested and ready to go is something I've haven't felt for a while.
After today's run I came to the realization that beating Lance is less of a goal for me then going out and giving it my all. I cannot control the fitness and discipline of arguably the greatest athlete ever, but I can control my own commitment and training and go in with the attitude of having my best race ever. The first hour I could tell things were going to be tough, the ground was icy in spots and I wasn't feeling 100%. I got through the first hour, saw AD at the turn-around in the park and shuffled along as strong as I could during the second hour. My legs were starting to cramp up and I knew the second half was going to be a mental battle.
I hit the Grande Prairie visitor's centre (about 4.5km from our home) at the 2hr mark and stopped to fill up my water and went back into the park to do another hour... ouch! This is where the "mental toughness" comes into play, you need to prepare your mind to run the 42.2km as much as you need to prepare your body. I kept shuffling along for another 30mins and then my body started to do wierd things. The dehydration starts to play tricks with your mind and you feel bonky and weak, my back started to hurt (kidney pain) and my legs really start to seize up. It happens to me at the same point all the time between 35 and 36km, it took everything in me not to stop but to just keep going! The last stretch up to our place is a gentle climb but there was nothing gentle about it today. I was shuffling along like I was barely moving but I kept putting one foot in front of the other until the bitter end. It took everything out of me but I'm very, very happy to complete the distance and feeling good about my progress. Can you say sub 2:48 for Boston!
40km run- 2:55
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Hmmmmm 2:50 for 40km in the freezin' GP weather...Lance had better watch out...man I am so very jealous of your gazelle-like runs! Must be nice. Great to see the new place all set up for hard core training...
I don't think we will be doing too many races in Edmonton....yet... but we'll see...our race schedule is pretty sparse right now - just Wasa lake, Morden Half and that's about it until IMC...so we'll have to see - I would like to get a couple more tri's in there somewhere...
Nice work D-man! You guys are going to destroy at Boston! ;-)
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