{week 6} No more outs

I realized last week that I am capable of running a marathon fast enough to qualify for the Boston Marathon (less than 3 hours 55 minutes). The only thing that will prevent me from succeeding is myself. My mind and to a lesser extent my body. 

When the going gets tough, I give up way too easy. I don't stop, I'm not a quitter. Actually I am a quitter. Just because I finish doesn't mean I didn't quit. I give myself permission to back off. I have many examples of this during many races. 

This quote from Run, Selfie, Repeat could not have come at a better time:

No more. I need to stop giving myself outs. I need to stop committing half way to a goal and then hoping it just magically happens. From this point forward, the positive self talk is happening in full force. It doesn't matter whether I realistically think I can or cannot run a BQ, I need to start believing that it's possible. I'm doing the work, I'm going 100%, why wouldn't it be possible? I'm sabotaging myself when I say that it's not going to happen so I'm making the decision not to play that game anymore.

While working on my mental stamina and the tricky little games my mind plays, I also have to be cognizant that I'm an injury-prone runner now.  To meet my goal I am going to  have to make sacrifices to ensure that I do all the non-running essentials to keep me fit: Rest, sleep, proper nutrition, yoga/stretching, pilates, physical therapy, ART/massage.

This week is the first recovery week in my training plan. I'm switching plans next week to McMillan's 12-Week Marathon Training plan. I just finished reading his You (Only Faster) book and I have determined I am a Combo-speedster, which explains why I rock track/interval workouts but tempo runs burn me out. The point of the book is that you need to tailor training plans to fit YOU. I built a  great endurance base with Advanced Marathoning and look forward to marathon-specific training over the next 10 weeks (plus 2 taper weeks).

I'm headed to Oiselle Volée Bird Camp in Aptos, CA at the end of this week. I'm looking forward to reconnecting with friends and meeting new (to me) teammates.

Week 6 (12 weeks until CIM)

Monday, September 5: Rest day
Tuesday, September 6: 8 miles with 10x100m sprints at end, general aerobic run with speed
Wednesday, September 7: 5 miles, recovery run
Thursday, September 8: Rest day (travel to Northern CA for Bird Camp)
Friday, September 9: 12 miles, long run (Bird Camp)
Saturday, September 10: Love to Move 5k race plus warm-up jog
Sunday, September 11: 8 miles, general aerobic