Goals: Lowering Your Expectations
For those of you interested in supporting my run, I wanted to set expectations early. Im not running per concerned about pace. I cant be. If I start basing my running on pace, I am going to get sucked in and that’s not why Im running again and going for the London Marathon. Im not running to qualify for Boston. I have zero desire to do that. (although I am delusional to think I could run a 3:30. That may be a goal in my 40s. More about that and running through mid life crisis in another post haha)
I have two little boys. I want to hang out with them and in my free time.. read, try to get better at sourdough, build legos and workout. I don’t want all of my free time to be running/working out. And my free time… is naps and after bedtime. Its nothing crazy. An hour and a half a day? Maybe? And I have enough things on my plate that I am trying to juggle. Work. Kids. Dinner. I cant add something to the plate that is going to cause me stress. I need running to be the opposite. So no crazy pace goals. No Boston. Its not the experience or vibe that I am going for. I don’t get a lot of runs alone.. and if Graham wants to come with me (that means pushing a stroller) and get out and run too (which always happens) im going to let him… and not worry about my pace.
So what are the goals? I have to have some.. right? Well I have 3 phases and then the London Marathon itself. Lets go through them:
Phase One: that’s where we are now! I call this my weight loss/build a base phase. Im not concerned about pace at all. I am using running to lose weight. Ok that sounds bad… but Im basically doing what I was doing when I was training for the NYC Marathon. I am in a calorie deficit. Not a huge one. But enough of one. And I am using running as my workouts to help my weight loss. 21 pounds down, 18 more to go! I also want to be in a comfortable spot running 5-6 miles by the end of this phase. Im just working to get a decent base and lose some weight along the way.
I do have some races planned during this phase. I just said I wasn’t worried about pace… but I do have SMALL pace goals for these races. They are more of targets to keep myself a little motivated. Otherwise Id be slowly jogging all of these runs and calling it a day. I want to push myself a little bit! First “Race” is August 2nd. More about that later too (I cant talk about everything at once! I have to keep this thing going until London… and that’s 10.5 months away!
Phase Two: that’s next! This is my work on pace/building off of my base phase. Yeah I know… more pace stuff. I want to be able to hold a doable pace for 26 miles. Im not trying to qualify for anything or take a ton of time off of my pace. I want to hold my doable pace. Also, focusing on building up the miles during this time. Hoping to be done with the weight loss train by then and eating maintenance if not a little surplus to adequately fuel my runs. Add some weight training and fuel to my running should do wonders.
Phase Three: All out Marathon training plan… I want to stick to the plan this time. That’s really it. Finish the entire training plan. That’s a low goal, I know 😊 But the time commitment is going to be harder in this phase. I can do my long runs on my work from home days, but my other runs have to happen after bed and nap time. Hoping to get out the door at 7:30/45 in this stage… and for these weeks..running may consume my free time.
The London Marathon: The goal may change… but currently it is to take at least 1 hour and 12 minutes off of my NYC time. I know, it sounds like a lot. Its not, really. I jogged the NYC Marathon and after mile 15, my time TANKED. I trained in a calorie deficit, didn’t come close to completing the training plan and somehow managed to survive 26 miles. Im really excited to try to run this thing again with proper food and training.
So just to recap… am I going to qualify for Boston? No. Am I remotely going to try? No. Am I going to be PR? Absolutely. But Im going to do it without pressure and to have fun because… its London! Why am I running my next marathon in London? More on that later (how many time have I said that at this point?!?!)
I hope you stick around and follow this journey with me! If you would like, you will have the opportunity to support my run by contributing to my fundraising campaign. This will be coming later after I receive the instructions from Crimestoppers!
Thanks for being here!
My first half marathon