Hello, Progress? Are you there?
The photo above is toward the finish of the Frank Nealon 15K last weekend, repping the Tracksmith Boston Hares!
I’m not going to lie. It’s been a tough few weeks! I feel like I’m putting in a whole lot of time and effort into music, running, life, etc. but feel a little disheartened that I don’t have big markers of progress to show for it.
My “junk room” in my home that I mentioned last week is a good example, or maybe a metaphor for all the life stuff. I’ve been making progress on organizing and sorting my stuff. Some of it goes to Goodwill, some of it has a place somewhere else in the house, and some of it goes into a designated pile with alike things, that have yet to be put away. But it still looks like a mess. It’s an organized, but chaotic mess. When I open the door to that room, I just feel overwhelmed. It’s like, what I actually need is a full day or more to deal with it. But what I have is maybe 30 minutes at a time. How does one decide what to do with those 30 minutes? Chip away one bit a time, I guess!
With piano, I’ve been working hard on some tougher passages that I can’t easily sightread. I’m at a point where they’re pretty ironed out in the practice room with a lot of repetition, but tough to pull off in one take, which is the point they need to be at for a performance. They still need time to simmer and get in my fingers. And at the beginning of each practice session, I know I won’t be able to possibly get to everything, so I have to be strategic with what I prioritize.
And then there’s running. Gosh. When I compare this spring to last spring, I am literally miles ahead of where I was, and so much more consistent and intentional. I have really carved out the time for myself to train. And I’ve trained through some of the most seriously nasty weather these last couple weeks. Don’t I get some kind of prize for that? (The answer is “no”, haha). So it’s hard not to feel a little disheartened when my 15K and half marathon races these past two weekends were so far off from how I used to run. I know I’m in a different place from maybe five years ago, but didn’t anticipate being so far off. I’m proud of my effort in both races, both with a more conservative start and faster finish, but it was strange to not feel even a little bit like my old self. To reiterate, I was pretty happy with my effort in both races and I think I ran well for how I felt. I don’t want it to seem like I’m knocking myself too badly!
I thought road racing would come back to me like riding a bike, and even in the past few years, I’ve pulled off some pretty good-for-me times having not put in a lot of specific training. So, I feel a bit stumped that things aren’t coming together when I’m actually trying. Maybe it’s the general fatigue from long work days and juggling a lot as a student. Maybe the training and all the miles over spring break are just catching up with me and I need more rest. Maybe I simply need more than one road racing season for everything to click. The race courses were both tough, and the weather conditions for the half were especially brutal (out-and-back course along the coast on a cold/blustery/rainy day with a headwind going out!), but I don’t think the weather and courses in itself are why I’m not running quite how I’d like.
I signed up to run a marathon on May 5th for a couple reasons:
A) I’d like to run the Boston Marathon next year, and in order to do so, I need to run a qualifying time.
B) I’ve found that being in good road racing shape has complimented my trail running, plus it’s a little more efficient timewise to train on the roads during the busy school semester. I thought putting a road marathon on the calendar would be good motivation for me to get out the door and be consistent with my training. And in that regard, it’s worked magnificently! I’m sure I wouldn’t have made as much time for myself to run without this specific goal on the calendar. And I’m glad I’ll be in great shape going into my Virginia AT FKT attempt in May.
So, right now I am just going to have faith that the work I’m putting in has been meaningful, and I think I’ll have to temper expectations for this marathon. The 15K and half marathon were meant to serve as gages to see where I’m at and inform my marathon goals. The news isn’t as great as I thought it was going to be. A few weeks ago I was thinking 3:10 would be great goal, now I’m not so sure. If this is where I’m at right now, well, that’s what I’m working with, and I can keep working on it in future training cycles if I want to. For now, it’s about putting my best foot forward with what I’ve got. And I have worked hard to get even here.
I was signed up to run the Providence Marathon, but it was unfortunately cancelled due to the closure of Washington Bridge. I was given the option for a refund or to run another event by the same race company. It was cool of them to offer those options. Thankfully, the same company puts on the Maine Coast Marathon, which happens to be on the same exact day, and it’s only about an hour away from where I live. Perfect!
So, I’ve got a little under a month to gradually taper, rest/recover as much as I can, and see if I can get some zip and spring in my legs between now and then!
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I wrote a little recap of the week, including a race report from the Frank Nealon 15K! Support Mercury on the Run as a member to read on.