Week 5 Recap

Quite a week. My first ten miler—that was a good feeling. I finished up my 70 mile 4-week goal and reached a big milestone on the Nike+ iPod system. But really, the biggest accomplishment for me this week was just getting out there and doing the runs. This was an important week in my mind, because it was week five—and I only made it through week four the first time I set out to train for a marathon. So I was officially in uncharted territory when I took my first step on Monday.

The NRMT suggests incorporating visualization techniques at this point in the training. The idea is that you create two short "videos" in your mind and commit them to memory; then you "play" those videos every time you get discouraged or tired on a run. The first is based on the memory of your best run ever, and the second is the scene that you imagine will meet you when you finish the marathon. I have to admit, this technique seems a little goofy to me. But I'm going to try it out and see if I find it useful.

This week the short runs bump up to four miles each, so there will be no more three milers until the program tapers leading up to the race. I'm looking at 4-5-4-11 this week, and the great thing about it is that I know I can do it, no problem. But the mileage really gets serious in the next few weeks, and I'm just the slightest bit nervous about it. At least until I remember that 3-4-3-5 seemed a little scary when I was looking at that for the first week of training. What can I say? You just run until you finish the mileage, and then you stop. We are not very good at estimating our own limits. They're higher than we think, and the only way you will believe that is if you are willing to try something you don't think you can do. So get out there and try!

Or else you'll wind up living in a van down by the river.