Cautious Confidence….

Two weeks from today is the big day! Currently it is 2:03pm.  At 2:03pm on April 15, I plan to be over Heartbreak Hill and headed down the final stretch to Bolyston Street crossing the 2013 Boston Marathon Finish Line!

As I get closer people want to know how I am feeling. Am I excited? Am I nervous? Yes and YES!

16 weeks ago I started an 18 week training plan called The Hansons Marathon Method. 

http://hansonscoachingservices.com/hansons-marathon-method-the-16-miler/

After reading favorable reviews on the method, I thought I would give it a try.  There were several attractive components.  First, I could order a book and have it in my hands. It would be a manual I could refer to often and as it turns out DAILY!  Secondly, this method calls for a 16 mile run and no longer.  I love this because it gives me time back.  I am not out there running really long on long run days completely exhausted.  Thirdly, it emphasizes easy running being EASY and speed being just that – speed and hard.  6 days of running – 2 days hard and 4 easy…I can do that! So my journey on the Hanson Marathon Method began.

How has it gone? The final verdict will be read on April 15 around 2:30pm.  We will see if all of my training comes together.  This is what my mind has been on the last couple of weeks.  This is what crosses my mind when people ask how I am feeling.  Will my training come together and will we see the fruit of it?  I say YES!

I am better prepared than ever before.  I have stayed faithful to the course of training. On days I didn’t want to do it, I did it.  On days I couldn’t do it, I did what I could or flipped workouts so I could do it.  My times have been spot on and better most days.  My easy runs have been easy for the most part…it is hard to pull in the reigns when you are thinking to yourself you should be going faster. I have learned throughout the course of the 16 weeks – easy is good, real good. It makes a difference in your overall state – mental and physical.

Today as I was pondering the next two weeks of preparation – tapering runs, proper nutrition, proper hydration and etc….I decided to pick up my manual and read what the Hanson’s had to say.  Here is what I found to help me respond to “How do you feel?” or “Are you ready?”

MENTAL PREPARATION – In my experience, the best way to mentally prepare yourself prior to a marathon is simply to be calm.   Getting your heart rate up before you even start running is never a good idea.  A good way to find that calm is to approach the race with “cautious confidence.”  Step back and spend a moment thinking about your training, reminding yourself that you are fit and ready to race.  Training doesn’t lie.  Be realistic in pondering the difficulty of the race, but also remind yourself that all your training has prepared you to handle it.  In addition, when the going gets tough during the race, you are prepared for it.  You knew it wasn’t going to be a cakewalk.  By preparing this way, you are able to have positive and motivating thoughts ready and waiting to help you endure.

p. 200 Hansons Marathon Method, written by Luke Humphrey with Keith & Kevin Hanson

Wow!!!! Just what I needed to read! CAUTIOUS CONFIDENCE! I have trained and I have trained well.  All of my speed workouts, strength workouts and tempo workouts have been successes.  They were all hard and harder in the beginning.  But I transitioned from being fearful I couldn’t keep the pace to being confident I could and I would. 🙂  What a relief!

Now, to finish strong and to finish well.

2 Timothy 4.7

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

Hebrews 12.1-2

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, ² looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

My goal marathon day is to run with the Lord’s strength and to finish the race He set before me.  My training won’t lie. I am cautiously confident it will ALL come together.

Romans 8.28

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.