The Virtue of Failure, or, 3M Half Marathon Recap

There are times in training and racing when everything seems preordained to go your way. It's a beautiful thing when it happens, and it can lead to magical races; races where no matter how tired you are from training, or what you think you can "realistically" run, or whether you were out drinking the night before, you just can't be stopped. In hindsight, I had one of those time periods at the beginning of October last year. During the week of my half marathon PR, I did the following:

Sunday: 21 mile progressive long run, last 10 miles at ~5:40 pace
Monday: 16 miles in a double
Tuesday: 15 miles in a double
Wednesday: 3x4 mile w/ 1mi recovery = 5:41 pace for 14 miles, 23 mile day
Thursday: 12 miles in a double
Friday: 13 miles in a double
Saturday: Half marathon race in 1:10:58
Total Weekly Mileage: 121.5 miles

Looking at that now, it doesn't seem like a recipe for a great race. A decent race on tired legs, sure, but not a 100% effort. Not to mention all the other reasons I could SURELY run much faster - I mean, I won the race by 3 minutes! I led literally every step! I even went out too hard, hitting 32:55 for 10k, which is 1:09:30 pace. What low hanging fruit that PR is, I mean it was probably worth 69 minutes if I'd just tapered, if I'd just had some competition, if I'd just...

Flash forward to today: I ran the 3M half marathon in 1:12:21. I ran 81 miles last week, not 121. I didn't have some other race I was training towards - my focus was on this one. I got put up in a hotel, got fed a nice meal with all the elite athletes, and got free entry into the race. It's even a net downhill course. So what the hell happened? Well, I've got a bag just chock full of excuses. My always lovely left foot developed yet another blood blister around mile 5, which caused intense pain on every toe-off after mile 8, and left me unable to walk until Em kindly popped it for me. My trusty old hyperspeeds (which I wore, by the way, because they had never caused the aforementioned blisters to appear) do not get any kind of traction on wet roads. I learned this two weeks ago when I tore my hammies and calves to shreds at the river road run, but look which smart guy had only one pair of race shoes when it started to drizzle this morning...

But at the end of the day, I know the excuses weren't really the problem. I came into this race knowing that I was pretty fit overall, but not where I needed to be to really perform my best. I missed a few workouts here and there, did some not so smart things with my training, probably didn't sleep enough during the last couple months, and just generally wasn't a very dedicated athlete. Which is okay, I mean, I'm never going to make a living doing this. A good year for me would be to be good enough to make the WOMEN'S Olympic team. And hell, this time last year I was running 16:30 for 5k. But at some point, you have to choose whether you're going to keep up the status quo, continue making excuses and getting your butt kicked, or go all in. Whether that means winning a major marathon or just lighting up the weekend warriors at your local turkey trot doesn't really matter, it's just a question of priorities. A question of focus.

I am going to try to go all in. I'm taking the rest of the week very easy, and then starting next week I am going to methodically attempt to build my fitness to a place that it's never been before. Some of it will be glamorous: hard workouts, high mileage, general badass-itude. Some of it will not: more stretching and general strength stuff, more sleep, better eating habits, more dedication to getting my butt out the door as soon as the alarm goes off. No more excuses, and hopefully, no more races like this one.

(As a sidenote, I just want to mention how well the 3M folks treated all of us. It was a great atmosphere to be in, and I cannot overstate how nice it was to just warmup to the starting line without all of the logistical hassles of driving, parking, etc. I'm extremely grateful to them and hope to redeem myself and actually earn my entry next year.)