And today, I shall celebrate this first day of my birthday month with my very first Lululemon running get-up. And then, I shall debut my new outfit at the Yankee Homecoming 10 miler tomorrow night. I mean, if I can't run fast in shorts like these:
Speaking of the Yankee Homecoming 10-miler tomorrow night, I still don't have a race plan. Then again, how do you really prepare for a race that starts at 6:15pm in the middle of the week on a summer night? Right. I ran this race last year, with the intent to average goal marathon pace, and executed perfectly. Naturally, I want to run faster this year. I need to have a successful race (whatever that means) so badly, to get my head back in the running game.
I should probably just hang 'em up, right?
Speaking of the Yankee Homecoming 10-miler tomorrow night, I still don't have a race plan. Then again, how do you really prepare for a race that starts at 6:15pm in the middle of the week on a summer night? Right. I ran this race last year, with the intent to average goal marathon pace, and executed perfectly. Naturally, I want to run faster this year. I need to have a successful race (whatever that means) so badly, to get my head back in the running game.
The first step is defining what success would look like tomorrow night - I can't afford to set myself up for disappointment again by going after a PR in every race, with the mindset that anything short of that equals failure. I think success tomorrow night is multi-tiered: (1) finish feeling strong/confident and (2) a faster finishing time than in 2010. Of course, breaking my 10-mile PR would be awesome, but I won't make that my lead goal.
I get paralyzed with fear anytime I toe the line for a race - whether it's a race to practice a certain pace, or to practice nutrition, or to test the turnover of the legs. In fact, if I have a workout planned with speed or pace work in it, I stress out about it for days prior. I put incredible amounts of pressure on myself, and my fear of failure at times feels insurmountable. I'm attempting to overcome this fear with several races during my birthday month this year. I'm doing this in hopes that the more I practice racing, the less big and scary it will feel.
I could come up with a million and five reasons to either not start, or to sandbag tomorrow nights race. Instead, I'm going to do my best to push the negative thoughts out, let the positive thoughts in, and put together the best 10 miles that I can.
And with my new LuLu outift, at least I'll look cute doing it!
Happy Training!
Ooh, those shorts look fast :)
ReplyDeleteThey're actually called "speed shorts".. I mean, how can I NOT run fast in those? ;)
ReplyDeleteLove LuLu anything! I hope you have a great race. I totally get the self-imposed pressure. Why do we do that to ourselves?
ReplyDeleteSkip the shorts, I'll take the model's abs in the picture you posted!!
ReplyDeleteHappy birthday month to you! Good luck with your race! Can't wait to read about it!
ReplyDeleteI love Lulu too! Just bought a super cute running skirt and a whole lot of other stuff that I can't afford!
ReplyDelete