Can I Do It?

In a few weeks we will be within 100 days of The Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend. As this century mark approaches I’m beginning to sense some anxiety out there.

No I’m not a psychic but I do receive quite a few emails that all seem to echo the same cry. Many of you are asking yourselves if you can really do your first half-marathon.

It’s only natural to wonder about such a feat as running some 13 plus miles so let’s talk about how we are going to accomplish this quest.

I’ve gone through this too so I know what’s going through your minds.

One of the questions I remember asking myself was exactly in the words at the top of this entry, “Can I Do It?”

Sometimes you need to nudge yourself or challenge yourself in order to accomplish something you have never dreamed of ever doing.

Regardless of whether you are a novice or seasoned runner, doing your first half or full marathon is a bit ominous and can generate some anxiety.

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Anxiety Thresholds

I think there are several thresholds of anxiety that come into play. Let’s explore them:

“¢ Pace Anxiety – This is above all the biggest worry for most first time half-marathoners. Its one thing to complete the distance but to maintain a minimum pace just adds another layer of concern. We’ll address this concern in the next few weeks and talk about the best ways to increase your pace and to avoid the dreaded sweep bus.

“¢ Run Anxiety – This is the anxiety I had to deal with during my initial training for this distance. I had this personal goal of running the entire distance. My fear was that my stamina would fail me and I would have to walk a portion of the race. I have great admiration for anyone who can cover the distance walking in the allotted pace. I can’t do it. To this day I have this run anxiety and my way of dealing with it is simply to run as slow as I have to so as to conserve enough energy to run the entire course.

“¢ Distance Anxiety – Let’s face it, 13 miles is quite a distance to run, walk, or run/walk and for anyone who has never even come close to a double-digit distance, it’s downright daunting. We’ll need to address this anxiety later in this blog. One thing I want everyone to keep in mind is that the mental aspect of covering this distance plays a key in the ever important area of confidence. Once you have convinced yourself mentally that it’s in your grasp then the rest is easy.

“¢ Injury Anxiety – If you’ve never done anything quite like this before then you may not know what to expect once everything is over. You could be concerned that you may be setting yourself up for some health issues. The best thing to do is to do the best job preparing for the event and take some steps in the post race hours to insure there are no recovery issues. We’ll talk about this as well and I can speak from experience as to the right and the wrong things to do before and after the race.

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Distance Anxiety

For now, let’s talk about this distance anxiety.

Some of you have asked if it is necessary to be able to cover the half-marathon distance during your training for the race. That is, should you at one point go out and actually run the 13.2 miles?

That is a very difficult question to answer.

When I was training for my first half-marathon my training goal was to get to the point where I would run no more than 9 or 10 miles. I did not want to over train.

I must confess however that I did cover the distance a few months before the race; but it was purely accidental and was not planned”¦which makes it a not so smart thing to do. I went out on Labor Day 2005 for a leisurely run. When I went out to run that day I wasn’t concerned about time or distance and just decided to take it easy. It’s important to keep in mind I never intended to run more than 8 miles.

I ended up running 13.6 miles. How did it happen? Well when I approached the 8 mile mark I felt good so I decided to go another mile. This happened for several miles and when I finally returned home from my run I had covered well over 13 miles.

I was excited but at the same time a bit concerned. My concern stemmed from what my body was telling me. I was pretty tired, not sore, but tired, and my legs were shaking a bit. I had not prepared to do this distance on this day”¦had not spent the last day or two adding a few more carbs to my diet nor had I hydrated more so than usual and my body was basically telling me, “Mike, we need to talk. You have to let me know about these things!”

I was very tired. I was curious as to just how many calories I had burned I went to this calorie burner calculator and plugged in the data.

I had burned more calories during my run than I take in on an average day. No wonder I was dragging.

Although I was somewhat dehydrated, quite tired, and very hungry I thought to myself, “Well I know I can run this distance,”

But I also realized something else.

I realized that if I had left the house that day planning to run that distance that I probably would not have been able to do it. I wasn’t ready to tell myself; “Okay, today I do 13 miles!” In an actual race adrenalin takes over and adrenalin did play a part in my run that day but it was not a factor until I had 8 miles behind me.

Walt Disney World races have this uncanny knack of pumping adrenalin through you before, during, and after the race. This adrenalin plays a huge factor in everyone’s ability to finish their race.

I also realized that I didn’t have to run that distance to prove to myself that I could do the distance.

That’s so important for everyone to understand.

You don’t have to cover the distance prior to race day.

Last year while training for the 2007 Half-Marathon I never went beyond 8 miles in any run and from Thanksgiving thru New Year’s I ran but 12 times and averaged 7-8 miles a run.

So my advice to everyone who is training to run their first half-marathon to seriously think about capping off their training distance at 9 or 10 miles and here are my reasons.

“¢ You don’t want to over train. Believe me, this is very important. My philosophy is that if I’m going to over train at all it will happen during my race. I won’t risk injury before race day.

“¢ You are in unchartered territory. If you’ve never run these distances before then you don’t know what your body requires in terms of recovery. It’s a learning experience which means that it’s a gradual learning curve so no leaps.

“¢ The adrenalin factor. Believe me when I tell you that adrenalin will play a part in your race day performance. It will give you an energy boost. That adrenalin rush is hard to come by during your training. Besides, if you wait until race day to cover the miles and then realize you’re about to do it, the rush is even greater. Wait for it.

“¢ Disappointment. That’s right. You are more likely to FAIL at running the distance during training than you are during the race. Do you need that? If you try to cover the 13 plus miles and come up short by a few miles you will doubt yourself on race day. Don’t take that chance.

Trust me!

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Mike’s Training Notebook

Well my 10-day trip to Walt Disney World has reaped havoc on my training. Prior to the trip I was at 7 miles. I am now at 5 miles and I have the 8.2 mile Tower of Terror race to run in Orlando on October 27th. On top of that I am having knee issues with my left knee.

This means I have to allow for more off days yet build up my stamina. If you experience any pain then take precautions to prevent it from getting any worse and spread out your workouts.

For me I ice down my knee for 20-30 minutes after my run and I’m giving the knee a 72 hour rest between workouts.

So my new plan is to run one day and take two days off. Each day I run, however, I will extend my run by about 3-5 minutes.

By mapping out this strategy on paper I can see that I’ll be in the 7 – 8 mile range by late October.

I will practice what I preach and not push myself to do the 8 miles prior to race day. If it happens it happens but I’m confident that if I am at 6 or 7 miles by the day I take off for Orlando then I should be ready.

For those of you who aren’t aware, the Tower of Terror race course maps have been posted. Go here to see the 6.5K Course Map and here for the 13K Course Map.

Next Time

Next time we’ll talk about how to approach the half-marathon distance so it does not seem so daunting. There are some tricks you can use to ease your distance anxiety.

We’ll also talk a bit about how to relieve your pace anxiety. Pace and distance anxiety go hand in hand.

Happy running

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