Yesterday afternoon I hopped onto the Runner's World website and saw there had been a couple of posts on visualisation ahead of the marathon. Building on that theme I made a very public comment along the lines of:
"I know there are lots of things that could go wrong but right now I feel confident that with good carb loading and tapering I'll hit my target in Paris, run negative splits and there will be no wall for me."
All pretty confident stuff eh?
Then, last night, I made the mistake of going onto the site again but looking at a thread dedicated to the 3:30 target. Unfortunately there were a number of comments from coaches, pseudo-coaches and seasoned veterans that pointed out various indicators that generally should be hit by anyone who thinks they could run sub 3:30. I'm afraid I didn't tick many of them off.
There were also comments from a very experienced and well known marathon coach along the lines of some sub 1:30 half marathon runners wont hit 3:30 and how so much is reliant on luck etc etc. I'm sure his style is just designed to stop people being unrealistic but it caused a bit of a wobble confidence wise and I wish I hadn't bothered looking at the thread.
However, I'm still going for it whether I hit, just miss or blow up badly in the attempt; and should I succeed, as I believe I can, then doing so will be all the more sweet.
5 comments:
I think you have the right to have self confidence due to many factors- you have run marathons before (whereas first timers with a 1.30 half may find the experience that much tougher), you have completed a lot of long training runs (eg 23 miles- that is practically it)- some people would go up to 20 (cough) which leaves a long way to go, you have been practising your fuelling etc on your long runs, you have been paying real attention to your pacing etc. I think you are right the comments would be there to put off inexperienced people from getting an unrealistic target.I would say also that if that is your goal then go for it. You have experience from other marathons, and you seem pretty aware of what you are capable of. So stick to your guns (and maybe don't read the answers on the forum!).
:)
That was not quite a mega comment, but it was a bit longer than usual!
This is not a 'mega' comment but I think that you have every right to feel confident
a. you've done all the training
b. training has gone well
c. you've done it before
d. confidence is a big part of the battle...tell yourself you will and you have much more chance than if you tell yourself you won't!
Rosexx
and yes....step away from the forum.....
Take the energy of this post and take it with you and remember it and call on it if you need to during the race.
http://doasyourdadsays.blogspot.com/2011/03/are-you-referee.html
“I really did feel good and decided to roll with it”
“I could definitely have carried on - no question.”
Honestly, by all rights if I had read a post like that then I would have written myself off every race I'd ever run. Technically, with my scoliosis I shouldn't even be able to run a 10k.
It's just a matter of you overthinking things again mister, and I second every positive comment that has already been made.
You WILL make that 3:30 goal. So there.
xxx
You won't know until the day, which is why you're right -- at this point, it's best not to be looking at these threads. As the others have said though, in the meantime, you can focus on the fact that you have some excellent LSRs under your belt, have been practising pacing, fuelling and recovery, and have an excellent preparation base from which to go for this.
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