Tag Archives: runners on twitter

Racing Update – Next Goal

Posted on by

Quite a few people have been asking “What’s next Jen? What are you training for?” I finally have an answer for you. I’m running California International Marathon!

California International Marathon

Picture straight from the CIM website… oooooo… ahhhhh….

As my “year of no marathons” was coming to a close, I started to feel a little sad about 2012 being an empty marathon year. The Columbus Marathon on October 21st would mark my one-year-away date. Just a week before that half, I was having a rough time personally and decided to medicate with more running. I started plotting a potential December marathon. It worked perfectly with my “train through Columbus half” plan. I applied for the elite field at CIM and told myself if I was accepted, I would run. The email response came after my long run on October 14th. I tweeted about it.

Just got an interesting email. #exciting #purposelyvaguetweets

Yes, I was accepted into the elite field. Very cool. Also, I was feeling extremely out-of-MARATHON-shape.

That was a rough 17 miles, but it was 17 miles!

I almost died (drama queen) doing 17 miles. It could be because I had been running 30-40 miles a week with an 8-10 mile long run most weekends up until that week. Then I applied for the marathon and got fired up and decided to run 60 miles with a 17 miler to finish up the week. #ouch

Maybe you wondered why I ran Columbus Half as a training run if I had no bigger race coming up. Or maybe you wondered why I was feeling insane enough to do a workout after my 5k race this weekend.

2nd place in the 5k. off for remainder of workout now.

Well, now you know.

I’m not out of shape. I have a good base. I was doing 12-13 mile long runs all summer along with lots of stroller running. I even did a 17 mile long run for fun one day in Seattle this summer. As you can see from my recent race recaps, I’m not in PR shape, but I’m in pretty good shape from 5k-half marathon. You saw in my Goals and Believing post that I’ve been working on hip/glute/hamstring strength in the month of October so I’m feeling strong. (More on how the month of strength went in a post later this week.)

believe i am journal

It’s all going in my Believe I Am training journal

The question is… how ready can I be for this marathon on December 2nd? I had 7 weeks until marathon day when I started training. That leaves about 5 weeks until taper… maybe 6 if I make it a short taper. In an attempt to remain injury free, my plan is to run 60-69 miles per week for the next 3 weeks with one workout and one long run. The other days will be easy so I can recover.

marathon pace chart

Hello old friend!

I will be ready for this marathon. Will I be PR ready? Not likely. Will I be ready to have fun AND run fast? Yes! I will be racing with a friend whose goal is slightly faster than mine. I will dig deep. I will be tough. I will see what I’m made of.

Why CIM?

  • My brother Jason Ordway will be running and it’s good family bonding time.
post race massage, columbus marathon

We bonded over post-race massage and a family cool down the last time we raced together!

  • Lots of my Oiselle Team birdies will be racing. I love a good meetup.
  • Other friends will be running.
  • Not many big marathons in December and I like the big race feel for 26.2 distance.
  • A history of great running weather usually ranging from 40-60 degrees F.
  • Strong field of runners.

So here I go! This is going to be exciting!

What’s your shortest marathon buildup? How did you do?