Fargo Marathon Thoughts

Since I am just 4 days away from the Fargo Marathon, I thought that I would look back a bit and do a prerace postmortem on my training.  The more interesting thing will be to do this same analysis after the race is over.  Hopefully I’ll have the same thoughts!

What I did the same:

Hal Higdon.  He has worked well in the past and has got me across the finish line 4 times before.  His focus on off days really works well for my lifestyle (traveling consultant whore) that enables me to take days off while I am traveling.  I trained off of his Intermediate II schedule with some slight modifications.

What I did differently:

While I did use the same training plan, I incorporated some speed work through the first few months.  I only did Yasso 800s on the treadmill – nothing fancy because that is the kind of guy I am.  (In the bedroom is a totally different story – heyoo)  I loved doing these and will most def work them back into my regular routine.  Also, I really focused on my pace.  I tried my best on my short runs to go slower than I would like (same story in the bedroom!!  I’m on a roll…) and until I got hurt I was incorporating a 5th day of running a week.  Finally, I ran two additional 20 milers one of which was a full marathon.  The extra miles on my legs served me well even if only to build up my very fragile ego.

Injuries:

I did VERY well with injuries during this training cycle.  While I did fight with some nagging pains, they were mostly my own doing.  I strained a quad muscle doing some squats (I know… I know….) which I believe lead to a nagging opposing ankle issue.  I just can’t help myself.  When I get into the gym and I see all of the meatheads and the crazies, I just want to load up the plates and go to town.  GRRRRRRRRRR.

Goals:

For my goals, I’m tracking to the A/B/C style of goals.  My A goal is a sub 3:30 race.  I would need to have no wind and a perfect race to hit this.  I have the legs for it, but everything would need to fall into place.  My B goal is a sub 3:40 race.  My C goal is to set a PR of a sub 3:44.  While it is aggressive, anything less than a PR would honestly be a disappointment.  I know what you are thinking: “Gosh Adam, you seem very arrogant/cocky/boastful/ass-tastic.  Why?”  Mostly because I ran the 3:44 after running 20 miles the 4 days before on a very hilly course.  I may have to “eat a bit of crow” if I totally blow up, which I have done before, but I think that posting it here on my blog makes it ‘real’.

By the way – what the hell is the deal with the saying ‘eat some crow’??!!