Thursday, April 1, 2010

"Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go."

So, the debate has begun. Do I make another attempt at a sub 3 hour marathon or play it safe and go for another BQ? I'm 4 weeks in to the Pfitz 12/55 plan and so far I feel great. In fact, I'm actually surprised by the quality of my workouts thus far and the results that I'm getting. If you would have asked me 3 weeks ago, I would have completely ruled out a sub 3 but my body is rebounding from the layoff better that I thought. The problem is that my last attempt at 2:59 failed miserably. I was in great shape and fairly confident when I stepped to the line at the 2009 Detroit Free Press Marathon. I was right on pace until mile 18 when I had a complete meltdown. I finished in 3:16. It is still my 2nd best marathon but those last 8.2 were absolute hell. You can do the math and see how much I slowed down after hitting the wall. The only thing I can think of that I did wrong was doing all of my long runs at the same speed. All 3 of my 20 milers were at 7:10 pace, probably a bit too fast for a long slow distance. I've been following the plan better this time. I'm not only doing the prescribed mileage but also varying the pace.
Now I sit here, 8 weeks out from the Traverse City Bayshore Marathon, the course were I BQed back in 2008, with a choice to make. Knowing me, I'll probably go for broke. I can already say I've been a Boston Qualifier but I'd really like to add at 2:59 to my resume. Plus, if I have another meltdown, there's always those guys around mile 23 handing out beer.