The Unknown

I am fearing it now - "The Unknown." What is "unknown," you ask? Whether or not I can run the Twin Cities Marathon at the pace I want to. The problem is, I have had nothing to test my training with, other than training runs.

When I figured my training plan I based it on a 1:33 half-marathon I ran in the spring. In case you don't want to go back to that post, I basically started out too fast and figured, "what the hell, let's see how long I can hold this pace," and I held it pretty much the whole distance.

The thing is, the pace that I have been training for and actually training above (faster than) on tempo runs seems so daunting to me only because I have never tried to run that pace for over three hours.

So here is why I can run this pace.

When I ran that half-marathon in the spring I was training for a marathon but at a considerably slower pace than I am now (I was preparing to pace MS & LF in the Minneapolis Marathon.)

I finished a successful and fast triathlon season this summer and rolled right into this marathon training, so I am more fit than I would have been in the spring.

No illness or injuries up to this point, no missed training.

I have been running fast. Faster than I have in the past.

The only reason I can't run this pace is that I am having a hard time getting my head around the fact that I actually can do it. And that it might hurt doing it.

Here is the dumbest part of this - I am having doubts while I am in the middle of hard training and right before taper. This is the worst time to be evaluating anything regarding race day.

I will just have to trust in my training and continue to work the plan for now. Race day will come soon enough and all questions will be answered then. Any encouragement is appreciated.