Sunday, February 24, 2013

Princess 2013- Training Really Does Matter

My third Princess Half Marathon has officially be completed.  That makes my current track record 1 Marathon, 6 Half Marathons, 1 10 Milers, and 1 5K.  Technically I should probably have more 5k's, but hey, I never liked to do things the normal way.

February has always been my athletically cursed month.  Back when I was a swimmer, there was a meet about this time in February I was never able to compete in.  It was when I was first diagnosed with rotator cuff tendonitis (it was so bad I couldn't move my shoulder) and I was usually sick during that meet.  It seems as though that tradition has turned over into running because I did not feel my best this morning and this race was definitely not one of my better ones.  My time wasn't terrible (2:42), but I was in a lot of pain.

I decided not to stop too much this time as I have already photographically documented this race twice, I just took it easy.  I did get pictures a few times and those will be coming tomorrow probably.

I was hoping to get closer to my personal record during this race, but I could very soon tell that wasn't happening.  As soon as I woke up, I wasn't feeling good.  The first few miles was a mental fight between me and my stomach. Luckily I won, but my stomach didn't go down gently.  Plus it was incredibly hot for so early in the morning and by the first mile or two I had a fine layer of sweat.  The nice thing was that it seemed runDisney also adjusted for the heat and set up more water and medical stops than it seemed they had in the past.  I absolutely loved them for it!

The water and sometimes powerade were welcomed at every stop and I did force myself to stop at a medical station.  It was hard since I just wanted to finish, but my knee and ankle were getting tighter and tighter and I knew without biofreeze, they weren't going to last.  I did walk most of Mile 8, but pulled myself back together after that.  I forced myself to get to certain landmarks (the on ramps, water stations, etc...) and that really did help.

I do blame most of the pain and difficulty of this race on not training properly.  I had only gotten to a single 5 mile run during my training and I probably needed more than that.  Up through mile 5 and 6 I actually felt decent (other than the stomach bug).  Now I do have some time to relax, get through a busy season at work and then figure out my training for Dumbo's Double Dare Challenge.

This weekend I did decide on a few things...
1. I am training a hell of a lot better for Dumbo's.
2. I am going to train to run Goofy's Challenge in 2 years... Goofy's 10th anniversary.

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