Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Confirmed for Scotland

Got my confirmation today from the race organizers of the Edinburgh Marathon. I have a guarenteed spot based on my half marathon time. I have never actually "qualified" for a race before, so this is a big milestone in my short racing career. But, to be honest, 1:35 for 40+ is a pretty soft marathon qualification standard. Anyway, I'm signed up and I have my flights booked. London is now officially off my list for 2008 - maybe in a couple years I'll do it.

My brother and sister are also guarenteed for Edinburgh since they are offering spots to anyone who got turned down for the London Marathon. So it will be a Fletcher family affair.

The course isn't finalised yet due to some roadwork happening around the time of the race but it looks to be fast and mostly flat - there is a downhill section the first few miles, and very few uphills, which is good. Weather looks like it will be pretty good, but this is Scotland so just about anything can happen.

Now all I have to do is train for the next 6 months without getting injured. I have reset all my training paces based on CIM and have a solid plan laid out thru May. Barring any injuries I should be in the best shape of my life by race day. Equivalent perfomance for a full marathon, based on my 1:30 half is 3:07:39 - but I don't buy that. My dubious, unscientific research has shown that very few people achieve their equivalent times, so I am going to aim for 2 VDOTs slower (go back to May to see more on this) - which is 3:14:06. I'll do my training as if I am running 3:07, but ease back on race day. (At least, that is what I am saying right now). Over the next few months I will run some more races and adjust my training paces and race goals accordingly.

This morning I bagged the tempo run and just ran an easy 7 miler at 8:00 pace. Didn't think it wise to go out and thrash my legs again when they are just starting to feel normal again after Sunday. Easy miles again tomorrow and then a little pace running on Friday (Next race is a 10k so I'll be running 2x1m at 6:26 pace).

1 comment:

wayfool said...

I think hitting your vdot time is doable. I was less than a 1 pt. difference. The caveat is that you have to be up in the 60 mile per week range to do it. Great job at CIM!