I know it’s a little early to be freaking out about the marathon…
…like, maybe about 40 days too early? But I can’t help it.
I’ve had some great runs:
- An awesome 15-miler
- An awesome half-marathon + 4 miles (17-miler)
- An awesome 18-miler
- An amazing 20-miler
I’ve only had one so-so long run, my 14-miler in Philadelphia. Even that wasn’t bad, just not great.
I’m usually the eternal optimist, but I’m so nervous that all of these great runs mean that the marathon will be terrible for me. That, and, despite the heat, Chicago was an amazing first marathon. Am I overtraining? I’ve gotten faster than I ever thought I could. Will some injury come out of the blue and hit me? Am I under training? Am I not pushing myself hard enough and those hills will beat me into submission and I’ll lay crying on the Queensboro Bridge while tens of thousands of runners trample me?
404? Error. (Nerd joke.)
Like Emily, I check these running calculators everyday. The one above is the Jack Daniels Run Bayou calculator my coach told me about. Based on my half-marathon time, it says I can achieve a 4:04 marathon.
The McMillan calculator is the most fun to play with because it lets you input so many distances.
My 5K PR is 23:33…3:49 marathon? Don’t think so.
For my half-marathon PR, McMillan says I can do a 4:09 marathon.
Still don’t think so, but this is slightly more realistic.
Finally, I put my 20-mile time from the other day in: 3:12. A 4:15 marathon at 9:46 pace? Much more reasonable. Saturday’s long run was at a 9:34 pace, so if I keep that pace up, I can probably even beat this 4:15, but I’m still sticking with my original goal: 4:30.
Why not adjust my goal for my improved performance? I still want to enjoy the marathon. 4:30 is now seeming like a completely attainable goal to me, so I still want to shoot for that and then just be incredibly pleasantly surprised with anything faster than that.
If you’ve also got marathon on the brain, some more awesome ways to geek out about all things marathon:
- follow the hashtag for your marathon. For NYC, it seems to be both #ingnycm and #nycm. For Chicago, it’s #cm11. (I followed #cm10 obsessively last year.)
- Find your marathon on DailyMile and follow others’ training
- Find your marathon in the Runner’s World Forums. I’m usually a participator in most online things, but I’m sort of a lurker here. These people are all hard-core. (Like Laurel.)
- I also hear there’s a great NYC Marathon training group on Facebook 😉 (Shameless plug: This is my group :))
It is a great Facebook group, even if you do say so yourself ;). Saved me from a major freak out about my bib number…
Still freaking out about everything else, but hey that’s part of the fun right?
Thanks for the other tips, I will be doing some online forum lurking I think…
Am getting very nervous/excited about the Marathon too – this will be my first. I’m a bit worried that you’re doing 20 milers already…. What will be your longest run before tapering?
@Mads: I think I’m just already doing 20-milers because I have a pretty aggressive speed goal. I’ll be doing another one in a few weeks.
Runners are such nerds with stats & calculators. Loove it!
Love the FB group! You are definitely not over-training. I think I get the award for that. Missed my 15 miler this weekend. Hoping for a decent 18 on Sunday. Are you doing the tune up?
No…I didn’t really enjoy it last year and don’t really want to repeat it.
Thanks for the tips! I recently moved to New York and signed up for the NYC marathon through a charity I’m supporting and your blog has helped me with my training. It’s my first marathon so quite nervous! So a big Thank You!
thanks for reading! Good luck w/the marathon!!
I think it’s a little early to freakout. Btw, you will do AWESOME. And I kind of want to experiment with those race time calculators but I only have like 1 or 2 races under my belt.
@Evan: Never too early to freak out!
Oh Curtis, you are still always and forever my (birthday sharing) Tiger! *sniff*
Thanks for those tips! Definitely going to check them out. I was also wondering why we were doing 20 in the same weekend with my race being weeks before NYC, but having the time goal makes sense. I’m still trying to tell myself time doesn’t matter but I’m pretty sure I’m just afraid.
BTW I have read your marathon recap like 1000 times amping myself up for Chicago. So thanks 🙂
@Caitlin: Aw 🙂 Good! Meghann from Meals and Miles, Kelly from Beneath It All, Bobbi from N Her Shoes, Leslie from And Her Little Dog Too, Liz from One Twenty Five and Brie from Brie Fit all also did it, too, if you haven’t had enough Chicago recaps 🙂
@Theodora: Awesome thanks!!
I’m looking to just finish!!! Ahhhhhh I’m getting so nervous and I’ve skipped two of my super long runs. I’m going to do 24 next week and hope I don’t die!
I think you should totally do a post on what to expect when running NYC since you’ve run it before. I’m afraid of everything!!! Like hello, is my Garmin going to cut out in a tunnel and what time will I start? Do they send me that stuff…
Clearly I’m having a freak out too…no big deal!
You are going to have a wonderful race. Of this I have no doubt.
I am not sure if I have commented before… but I ran Chicago last year and am doing NYC this year too. I thin 4:30 is a great goal! If you feel faster that day, your body will take over when it’s appropriate! 🙂
im freaking out too!!!!!!
ahhhhhhh.
ok. seriously though, why dont they make an official hashtag for the race?! never know which one to use.
ps thank you again for the Facebook group. Best idea ever.