[hahaoya]

Oh dear me. I've had my eye on the Long Beach Marathon since April, but I am behind on my training. I had 16 miles scheduled for last Sunday and only made it through 12.5. I have an 18 miler this weekend, then two 20s, and a 15 before race week and I'm just not sure I can pull through on my training.<br><br>
My problem? Just no motivation. Should I just force myself to hit those long runs and 26.2 or settle for the half?

 

[jebba]

Could the motivation problem also be a fatigue problem? You've been jacking up the exercise quite a bit this summer. Maybe aim for the half and look at a full a little bit down the road?

 

[Hippo]

I'll take a right turn with this, and tell you to take your mind off which race you'll do for a moment.<br><br>
Remember how much joy running can bring to you, try to reconnect with that. If that leads you to end up finishing your training for a slow full or a faster half, just go with it.<br><br>
I got too tangled up in "I haveta's" a while ago. Then in the middle of a race a mentor of mine told me to throw away my Garmin and watch. It was the best thing that ever happened to me.

 

[hahaoya]

This is what I think is happening. I did have a full summer of training and I'm just not used to moving from one race to another. I also sometimes get the post-race blues after riding so high for many months. I do think it's a fatigue factor, which makes sense because my times are really screwey right now, which makes me even more apprehensive to do the full because there;s the "I'll be disappointed if I do crappy".<br><br>
That's a good suggestion, Pete. I am definitely not focused on each run, but more on the race and results. Also a factor, and one that I realized this morning, is that I've dreaded running on the roads now that I'm training off-trail.<br><br>
I just need to stay the course, but not put so much pressure on myself and focus less on the carrot.<br><br>
Thanks jebba and Hippo. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/images/smilies/smile.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="Smile">