October 23, 2023 - Becoming Obsessive

California International Marathon is less than six weeks away. Five weeks of focused training. And I'll be becoming obsessive for those five weeks. No really thinking about the High Five By 55 projects. No thinking about ultramarathons or running in mountains. Just focused on doing the work to cover 26.2 miles in less then 2 hours and 50 minutes. 

I become a pretty boring version of Nathan at this point in marathon training. The training is monotonous. The rhythm is well established. Just churning miles and alternating between easy days and workout days. Hoping for a glimpse of a training breakthrough here and there. Trusting the plan will work. And if it doesn't, well it's just running marathons as a hobby.

I think what I like about training for the marathon is this predictability. The structure of the training. There are small shifts along the way and through the weeks. But really, it's the same thing week in and week out. And even the outcome is relatively predictable. Do the work, show up well rested and in a good frame of mind, and there's a decent chance you'll run the race you had targeted in training. Sure, things can go wrong. Weather can trip up the race day plan. A shoe failure, perhaps. Just a bad day, even, or bad head space. But basically, in the marathon if you do the right training and eat properly and sleep well, you're probably going to run the race you hope to. The chance of failure is relatively low. And there is comfort and even joy in this structure and predictability. (It's the exact opposite of big mountain ultras where failure likelihood is pretty darn high for me, which is a big part of the draw to that.)

And for the next several weeks, I'll be obsessively moving through the motions of this training plan. Ticking off every little box. Clicking away at the miles and the target paces. Freaking out the two weeks I have travel planned as I have to adjust my training to accommodate that travel. Doing the gut training to handle high carbohydrate intake on race day. Sleeping a bit more than I normally would. Perseverating about which shoes I should run in (even while I don't think it really matters.)

Less than six weeks to race day.


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