Facing Reality

I had initially signed up to do the full marathon (42.2km) on the 13th October (during the Melbourne Marathon festival) but after a good think about the following:

Half Marathon Oct 2012

- Melbourne Marathon is 10 weeks away. I need to be doing 3 run sessions a week including long endurance runs 20km+ (up to 32-34km within 8 weeks. Currently, I am only running 2 times a week and my longest run was 22km, 5 weeks ago (before Run Melbourne 21.1km).

- Melbourne Marathon is 2 weeks before Noosa Olympic and 4 weeks before my A race for 2013 - Shepparton 70.3

- I am shin-splint-prone so the last thing I want is to increase my running load (too much, too soon), get injured and be out of action leading up to race season

- I am currently struggling with double session Tuesday and Thursdays due to fatigue (at the moment, it is only one session of training a day) so I have not been running 3 times a week at 100% effort.

...I have downgraded my event to a half marathon, a massive weight has lifted off my shoulders. I am now excited to run the half marathon course again and will aim to get a time below the 120min mark. My best time was 1:58 (Oct 2012). I am also glad I am training for a half marathon as now I am able to train at Fairfield with the main group instead of doing my own thing (trying to cover my own distances).

I have also been running in new shoes too (Brooks Pure instead of my Nike Free) and I haven't been rolling my ankles as much so that has been a plus.