Friday, October 15, 2010

Weekend Planning...

The kids are out of school for a long weekend and we've got a birthday tomorrow.  My little guy is turning 3!  So crazy.  Where does the time go?  Here's what the birthday cake will hopefully look like...

Everywhere we go, he yells in his loudest voice, 'Mom, TRUCK!'  Everything that is not a car is a truck.  Which, how can boys be boys so early on.  Trucks and guns.  He can make a gun out of anything and has mastered all sound effects of guns and cars but still doesn't talk clearly.  Should I be worried?  I'm not.  I have two older boys that did the exact same thing and are fine.  Just funny...

So my weekend dilemma.  It seems I question this before every so called taper.  Long run tomorrow:  Do I really need one?  Mentally I feel like I do.  So do I do an easy 20 miler that I can get done in 3 hours ish or 16 to 18 miles long run w/ trail, tougher and will probably take 3.5 hours.  Marathon is two weeks from Saturday.  There just aren't training plans that show what to do for a marathon a month.  It just feels weird to not do a 20 miler a few weeks before a race.  Yes, I know I can cover distance but I'm still training.  I'm not just trying to get through,  I want to get better, strong, faster.  Point...I don't want to just sit back and just know I can cover distance.  I want to push myself, without hurting my body.

So help me out...  Don't tell me what you think I want to hear.  Pretend you are the coach for a day.  Get out your #2 pencils and fill in your answers... 

Do I:

a.  Run an easy (a relative term these days) 20 miler, rolling hills, pavement course, with a one mile uphill finish - probably takes about 3:10 to finish
or

b.  Run 16 to 18 miles, mostly trail, lots of uphill sections, gorgeous scenery - probably takes 3.5 hours to finish

or

c.  Fill in the blank.  Be creative.  Give me your best.  I'm tough, I can take it!

I already know what I'm leaning towards.  Let's see what the test results bring in... ; ) 


8 comments:

  1. I say go for A. But listen to your body, ok? don't push to hard. =)

    It's also my girl's birthday tomorrow. Though she's turning 17! Yikes! Happy birthday to your little man =)

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  2. "Pavement" vs "gorgeous scenery" hmmmm :) I vote trails. I'm no coach, I'm just wishing I had some dirt to run on myself.

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  3. c. eat all of l'il man's birthday cake, wash it down with a glass of cold milk, and then work on your cabbage patch. you never know when you might need to cut a rug. and please video the entire process to document.

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  4. Trail run, B, as long as it's not treacherous & you aren't going to twist an ankle or something. The distance may be shorter but the hills will give you a good strength workout for your legs & lungs. Better way to build that VO2Max!

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  5. I would do trails. Take someone along to fight of the cougar, though!

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  6. I"m in awe over the cake. Post pictures.

    Hope you have a good run whichever you choose.

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  7. Presumably you already did your run by this time, so I'm gonna guess you did the trail run...Am I right? I am right, right? Hope there were no mountain lion encounters!

    Happy Birthday to that handsome little man of yours!

    Hope the run and the cake were great!

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