I’ve been frustrated the last couple of years with injuries and still am not fully better. Despite that, I recently ran a half marathon, and even last week completed a 4 mile run even though my foot was hurting. Not smart.
In the Nov/Dec issue of Marathon & Beyond, there was a very interesting article called Training for the Long Haul and I felt like it was specifically calling me out. I can be very shortsighted when it comes to my training and I have a hard time saying ‘no’ to something even when it doesn’t necessarily fit my training. I also don’t always listen to my injuries, which can turn a small problem into a big problem. One bit in the article that stuck with me was the notion of “Eye on the Prize”, or the idea of not getting distracted into chasing a short-term goal at the expense of a big one.
With this new understanding, there are two long term “prizes” that are really important to me. First, is the Ironman 70.3 Princeton, coming up in September, which will be my first half iron. And 2nd is the Mississippi Blues Marathon on Jan 9, 2016, (so long as their typical race scheduling remains unchanged) which will be on my 45th birthday. All other short term goals, including the Fred Lebow Manhattan Half that I’m already signed up for, will be cast aside, so that I can focus on my “prizes.” That doesn’t mean I won’t race a tri before Sept or a marathon before Jan 2016 if I’m fully ready for it, but anything that I do will be for the purpose of preparing myself for those big events that are important to me.
