survival training

I went out for a loooong run yesterday morning.  As I was leaving, my roommate said to me, "You look like you're either going for a run or survival training!"  I jokingly told her, "Yes."  But as I was in the midst of the run, I realized she was right.

Our long runs, as half marathoners and full marathoners, are survival training.  We try different clothes to find out what is most comfortable, doesn't chafe or bunch.  We try different energy supplements to see what will work best on our tummies mid-run.  We test our physical limits, pushing ourselves further and further, faster and faster each run.  It really is survival training when we're out there, week after week, racking up the mileage.

I find that it is also about testing the limits we have mentally, too.  How can you be at the point when you want to absolutely give up, and yet find the resolve to push through the last miles (sometimes 6 or more!)?  How can you find the strength to push through what you thought were your limits?  You do that by running long runs.  Finding how to do that in these brutal, often lonely, long runs are what helps you survive that marathon.  You know you can do it there because you have done it out on those roads, alone, without the water stations and med tents and crowd support.

When you get to the marathon, you find out how your survival training really went.  Did it pay off, or do you have to adjust some things for the next big race?  Based on yesterday, I know there are some things that I need to adjust for next time.  Running a half marathon a month while training for a full marathon has been harder than I thought.  I'm tired and just don't feel like I have it in me.  Between miles 13-16 yesterday, I thought a lot about switching to the half in Memphis instead of attempting the full.  But when I got home, I realized that this is all part of it.  Even if I don't train as much as I did for Boston, I am still training.  And I can do it.  I will do it.  But this cycle of survival  marathon training has just been a bit different, and less rewarding.

I only gutted out 17.65mi yesterday.  While I felt really disappointed and frustrated in myself, I know that I have another 7wks to go till marathon day and I WILL get my 20+ miles.  And I will survive that marathon.  That's what the last six months have been about.