Road Bumps in the Rundown

Five days until the marathon -- I'm feeling a bit sluggish, which is par for the course when you cut back on the frequency and duration of your workouts during the 'taper' period before an "A" race (I'm told). We came down with a nasty head cold here in the Purple household this weekend, but that was a short term thing, happily, and J seems to have dodged it entirely. But the biggest event is this:

B got a job (Hooray!)

in Texas. (Booooo!)

So, B drove off with his bikes on his car on Saturday (leaving us one short for diplomacy, I note), and there went my coach and sometime training partner -- not that we trained together so much as at the same time. A couple of bike rides with him last weekend showed me just how far behind him I am on the triathlon fitness curve, and its only mid-march! Here's the real question that arises from B's departure:

Will I keep training without someone else who would show up at the workouts?

A year ago the smart money would have been on "hell no." But, this winter, I've shown glimmers of personal responsibility in the fitness department, keeping up my marathon training despite my impending dissertation defense. Maybe I will remain committed to the dream of qualifying for Kona in 2013. I'm not giving up, by any means, but I cannot help but know myself well enough to recognize that I have had a lot more success in endeavors I have worked on with partners than in projects where I am on my own.

The hardest thing this last month has been training through the depression of the jobless-future. Its difficult to even write about, but looking for postings, working on the resume, putting out more letters and contacting people for opportunities -- someone said "looking for a job is a full time job" and that is very true. I'm hopeful that I can find something that doesn't involve teaching ballroom dancing again, and have my fingers crossed for a post-doc, AND I know that I have friends who would help me out with work of some kind -- we won't be on the street -- but I continue to grapple with the ultimate failure of the "back to grad school" project, which was to GET a JOB. Anyway.

I will, I feel certain, crush my marathon PR of 3 hours 51 minutes on Saturday morning. By how much? I am, again, aiming for 3 hours 30 mins, a steady 8 mins per mile pace. I plan on going out with the Navy pace team this year, rather than trying to do anything fancy like running 8:05 for the first ten miles, 7:55 for the second ten miles, and then as fast as I can for the last 10 kilometers (the 10/10/10 strategy). If I feel good, I will make a push at mile 24 -- I won't get a lot more than a minute that way, probably. My last hard run (last Sunday) I ran 8 miles at ~8:20 and 7 at ~7:30, the latter being my 1/2 marathon pace. I would love to try to make a move at mile 20, but 20/21/22 was where my knee failed last year, so I'm planning on playing it safe this year. One of the girls from the tri club is planning on running sub 3h20, and that's JUST barely too fast for me, I think; maybe in the fall.

Some good things may come out of my not getting a job this go-round -- M is trying to get her TESOL certificate; application is in train, and its a one-year program. That would be awesome for her, and J would get to finish the cycle of grade school here where he knows the ropes. I'm digging into the book on ballroom history, spending time down at the LOC. That's where you'll find me when I'm not in the pool or on my bike or running this spring, I guess!