Marathon Monday #8

I've made a decision!

No worries. I'm not dropping out of the race, but I am changing my goals. When I started training, I mentioned I wanted to set a pace goal of 10:00 min/miles for the race, with an overall time of sub-4:30.

I knew I probably shouldn't make that goal, since it's my first marathon in 10 years, but I threw it out there.

And now I'm taking it back. I've decided it's just too much pressure. The majority of my runs lately have been closer to the 11:00 min/mi pace.

I don't want to spend the rest of my training beating myself up for not keeping that goal pace.

I want to ENJOY the marathon, and not feel bad for stopping when I need to. It's supposed to be a really beautiful course, and I want to feel good about stopping for an occasional picture.

So, I've decided I'm just going to run for the love of running.

No time. No pressure. Just running.

Last week was a fabulous week of training.

	The Plan	The Reality
Mon, 9/9	2	2 w/ Sallie
Tue, 9/10	4 Speed	4.15 Fartleks
Wed, 9/11	REST	Strength Training Cardio, Abs, Arms
Thu, 9/12	7 Pace	7
Fri, 9/13	3	3 Abs, Arms
Sat, 9/14	14	REST
Sun, 9/15	REST	14
TOTAL	30	30.15

I've long since wanted to make my mid-week rest days as active rest days. I know that core and strength training are extremely important when training for a marathon, so this week, I was determined to incorporate some into my workouts.

Instead of resting on Wed, I did some strength training.

This totally kicked my ass. Literally. I could barely walk the next day from the squat variations. Made for an interesting 7 miler Thursday morning.

I did more strength training on Friday, but focused only on abs and arms. My lower body just wasn't ready. :)

Lots of Saturday morning errands prevented me from running on Saturday. That, and I really didn't eat dinner Friday night.

It's all good since I ran Sunday instead. And it was a fantastic run! Whoo hoo!!

Up this week? I'm dropping down to running 4x each week. I'm hoping to start strength training on Mon, Wed, and Fri with the extra day off. You can view my training plan here. Since I'm dropping my Pace runs, I've modified my plan to include Hills on Tuesdays and Speed Work on Thursdays - instead of alternating those from week to week on Tuesdays.

Have you ever changed up your running goals mid-training plan?
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