Eat Drink Run Woman

As I hinted in my last post, I’m once again training for a marathon. Even before we completed our first, I had signed us up for our next adventure: the Goofy Challenge at Walt Disney World January 12-13. By running the half marathon on Saturday participants receive a Donald Duck medal; for the full marathon on Sunday it’s a Mickey Mouse medal. So, what must you do to receive the Goofy medal? That’s right — run BOTH races. (I’ve never claimed sanity was my strong suit).

But perhaps even crazier than that, I’ve decided to try to qualify for Boston. It won’t be at Disney — my goal for that race is to merely survive both days — but I am kicking my training up a notch to see how my body responds. (If the first week is any indication, my body is acting like a petulant child, sending me into the throes of a 100-degree fever at the first signs of increased activity. I’m hoping it will start to behave soon.)

I first toyed with qualifying for Boston earlier this year. I even broached the subject with one of my blogging buddies, asking if she’d be up to the task with me. (I got a definitive “maybe.”) My target would be Boston 2009, for which I’d need a 4 hour qualifying time (excuse me, 4 hours, 59 seconds, thankyouverymuch) during a 2008 race. While certainly challenging, it didn’t seem particularly out of reach.

However, after pulling a hamstring during the Fremont 5K I began to question my decision. Perhaps I wasn’t meant to go fast, I told myself. Maybe I’m better off shooting for another goal not determined by speed: x number of marathons before I’m 50, running a marathon on every continent, becoming a member of the Marathon Maniacs, etc. etc. A total copout, I know.

But now that I have my first marathon under my belt, my thoughts are turning once again to Boston. I know I can go the distance, it’s now time to test my limits. It will require a whole new level of training, and the risk of injury (and burnout) will be that much greater. But I know I’m not working up to my potential with my current level of training. Sure, it was a great program to get me to the finish line, but there’s much more to do if I want to get to that finish line in under four hours.

I’ve already identified the race for my first Boston qualifying attempt: the North Olympic Discovery Marathon (NODM) on June 8. I understand the views are breathtaking and the weather is typically cool. It’s also a relatively small race (about 2,000 people, I believe). It’s about a 2-hour drive from Seattle, although I would stay at nearby hotel the night before in order to get plenty of rest.

My biggest question is whether it’s reasonable to think I can shave that much time off in less than a year. Compounding the problem is not knowing how fast I can currently run a marathon! Medoc certainly was no indication, and I doubt Disney will be either. But based on my recent half marathon times, I conservatively put my current time at 4 hours, 40 minutes. I know by kicking my training into high gear I can shave off a considerable chunk, but it will be the last few minutes (seconds?) that will give me the most grief.

As for the training program, I’m once again turning to Jeff Galloway. Although he has his detractors, I’ve found my body recovers much quicker when I take walk breaks. For Medoc I followed his “to finish” program, which only required three days/week of training and did not incorporate any hill or speed work. While I won’t be running Disney for time, I’ve decided to follow Jeff’s 4 hour, 20 minute program to see how my body responds. It adds another day of training, as well as hill and speed play. I will be modifying the program, however, as it’s intended to be 26 weeks long, and I only have 14 weeks before Disney (however, I’m counting the week before I got sick as one of the training weeks). I’ll also be running a couple of 5K races over the next few months to better predict what my current marathon time would be.

Assuming the training goes well, I’ll then use Jeff’s 4 hour program for the NODM. That race is 21 weeks after Disney, which should allow plenty of time for recovery and ramp-up. I know my biggest challenge will be to keep things in perspective: few people qualify on their first attempt (I read blogs by people who have tried to qualify numerous times). You just have to learn from your experience and adjust your training accordingly. Plus, you can never predict (or control) what the weather will do on race day. I’m sure it will prove to be a wild ride.