mind and body

so, this week was somewhat of a monster week. i think, in terms of speed and distance, this had to have been one of the hardest weeks i've ever put in. with no run shorter than eight miles, a 10 mile track workout at an average pace of 6:54, and an eight mile fartlek run before the long run on saturday, to say that i was fatigued would be an understatement. so, saturday morning, as i sat at the computer reading blogs and eating my oatmeal, i was somewhat dreading the 18 miler sitting before me. the coach typically has me do the bulk of the distance at lsd (long, slow distance) and then hit mp (marathon pace) for the last handful. today, it was 13 at lsd with the last 5 at mp. challenging, and daunting.

as i finished up my oatmeal, i came across meagan's blog and a photo of her friend, issy, really struck me. "your mind gives up before your body". what a great reminder. i thought back on hard runs that i've had in the past and reflected on how my mental state, going into the run, always was a huge factor in the effort that i'd put forth. so, i filed that quote away for later and got ready for the run.

i headed down to the aliso creek trail, with the plan of running from the wilderness park, up the bike path for nine miles and then turning around. it was going to be a tough course, since the nine miles out included about 500+ feet of climbing. but, the uphill would simulate the middle miles of the marathon, so running this distance on a flat beach course was out of the question. off i went, with a perk in my step and a new fire in my belly.

the first couple miles were the typical 'warm up' miles, where everything sorta creaked and the muscles complained. by mile five-ish, i was feeling good, and was managing to keep the pace right around the mid to low eight minute mark. perfect. i gu'ed at six miles and made the turn at nine without too much effort. i was feeling pretty good, considering the long, nine mile climb. i naturally sped up a bit once i turned, but continued to keep the pace from dipping below the eight mark. again, perfect. as i got closer to 13, i gradually started to speed up, so the jump to mp wouldn't come as a shock. mile 13 was in the mid 7's and actually felt quite good.

then came the last five. the first mile of mp was over some tough rolling hills. i pushed hard up the hills to maintain pace and just hoped that i wasn't burning myself out too quickly. but the first mile came and went, right on target and i still felt great. the next two miles were right on pace as well and i was just sailing along. and then i hit the wall at mile 16. my mind began to shut down, telling my legs that they were heavy and too tired to go on. i focused HARD on form, continually telling myself that running efficiently would allow me to go faster, further. i took my third gu, hoping that the added fuel would kick start the brain.

i went through quite a bit of rationalization at this point. the course i was running was actually going to turn out to be 18.6, i could stop a little early and still have 18 miles. or, the coach had said 4-5 miles at mp, so i could actually slow down at the end of four. and so on, and so forth. but two things kept resounding, first, if i didn't train hard, how could i ever expect to pull off my goal in january, and second, "the mind gives up before the body". i hammered that point home, continued with the turnover and pace and ticked off the minutes, right on target. the last mile was the hardest. i was mentally done, but even in my mentally fatigued state, i kept looking at the forerunner and saw that i was still hitting my pace. my body wasn't through. i pushed, and when the watch finally chirped the final mile, i couldn't believe that i'd just kicked the run's butt.

marathon pace for me is anywhere between 6:50-7:20, with 6:50 being gold medal effort. i looked back over the last five miles and was pleased to see the following splits: 6:59, 6:59, 6:54, 6:46, 6:56, with an overall pace for the 18.6 of 7:49. yeah, i was completely spent and left everything on the course, but i had tapped into the body and had outrun my mind. and it felt great.