T-MINUS 11 DAYS

As expected, this last weekend's sixteen miler was harder than it should have been. That seems to happen every marathon cycle. You run your last twenty, feel pretty good about it, do the douchey double finger point to anyone who asks how it went, then shit the bed the next week. My legs were tired from the speedwork and twenties the previous two weeks, so I know not to worry. My legs recovered quickly and I'm feeling pretty good eleven days out.

Since we are still too far out to obsess over the weather forecast, I decided to obsess over my pace today. I'm having a really difficult time figuring out what a good goal for this race will be. I do know that a PR is out the window... I was in much better shape last summer and trying to PR this race would be a fool's errand that would leave me broken. However, I also don't want to use that as an excuse to slack off. I want to do the best I can for the shape I am in now. What is that? I'm not sure.

One reason I'm a little confused is I haven't raced since June, and that was the Bald Peak Half Marathon which you can't really use as a measuring stick. In fact, if you look at my race history you'll notice I've raced a lot less this year than normal. I had the overtraining syndrome issue in the spring and then this summer I was so focused on trying to be motivated for marathon training that I didn't sign up for any races. The last time I feel I really ran my best was the Rock n' Roll Half Marathon in mid-May! Am I in better shape since then? Yes, I can run farther for sure! Am I faster? Not sure.

I am doing a race this weekend however! The Corvallis Fall Festival 5k Run, year five. This is where it all began in 2011. Unfortunately, it is always the week right before the Portland Marathon, but it has never been an issue and is over in just over twenty minutes anyways. A good chance to get some last minute speedwork in. I'm shooting to do eight miles on Saturday, so my legs won't be super fresh, but it'll be a good measuring stick on my fitness. I'll run it at 95% effort, like I have the last couple years, which normally puts me within 20 seconds of a "best effort" finish anyways.

While typing this post and looking back at previous races, what I think I could do in shorter races now, plugging those into calculators, comparing my times against myself in previous years... I think I'm starting to get an idea of what my goal should be in Portland. I'll officially announce that with my preview post, but this post has actually helped me a lot! Now that I have a goal (I think), I can relax, focus on my taper next week, and do my best October 4th!