It's finally here! Cleveland Marathon Race Week! Four and a half months of training in the bank leading up to this coming Sunday. It's just about time to put the training to the test. Race weather is looking ok-ish (rain but not too high temps) but it's Ohio so who knows how much more it will change in the mean time. So I'm trying not to obsess over that...too much. My coach has had me practicing heat acclimation techniques these past few weeks, including running in long sleeves in warm temps, and taking very hot baths right after most of my runs. It seems to be working too because I'm pretty comfortable in my long sleeves now and I'm noticing that even the slightest bit of cold feels frigid to me. Now that it's race week, the mileage is dwindling and there are no real workouts left on the schedule, except a few minutes here and there just below goal pace. But the taper crazies are in full swing. Last week was fine because I was so busy at work that I didn't have time to think about the approaching race. Now that work has calmed down, my mind is 100% focused on the race which is creating a lot of stress as I overanalyze the past four and a half months. I definitely feel very jittery and tonight's run was a true race week run, completely with phantom aches and pains, doubts, and inability to run anywhere near race pace, until I took my mind off of what I was doing. Luckily my coach has been quite the asset in talking me through my stress this week and I'm working on some techniques of my own to calm down and destress this week. I'm also trying to do some targeted focusing on the parts of the race that I'm excited about and those that don't stress me out. I'm visualizing parts of the race and I'm getting my race music and outfit picked out. I also have my Cleveland Marathon Ambassador dinner on Friday night to look forward to and the expo that afternoon. Plus I'm staying in a hotel in downtown Cleveland the night before the race which should be fun as well. Most importantly, all the hard work is done, the miles logged, and the time put in. It's time to enjoy the taper and get pumped for my favorite race of the year, Cleveland Marathon race weekend number 6 and my 6th full marathon! No matter what happens on Sunday, it'll be a great time and I don't regret any time spent training for this race. Cleveland, let's do this! There's still time to register, by the way and HKCLE10 will still get you 10% off your registration!
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