Another 1/2 chapter down.
Writing in the mornings is working so well for me! I feel like “3000 words by lunch” is an attainable goal provided that I am not trying to write 3000 perfect words. I am writing 3000-words-to-be-edited-and-fixed-and-dealt-with-later, and that is low pressure enough that it seems to flow well. I will say that certain topics will probably be harder/slower to write about but I am doing the lower-hanging fruit first to build momentum and prove to myself the I can, in fact, do this.
(I do not have any shareable details yet, but the gist is that things are in the works and I now have outsider-imposed-deadlines, which apparently are highly motivating.)
I talked a bit about running burnout recently, and how stress in other areas of life has been making me feel kind of meh about my running. This is still true. I wrote to my coach about how I was feeling and he gave me a very scaled down schedule for the week. HOWEVER last night I decided that I’d do today’s speedwork in the morning if I felt like it, and I felt like it, and then it was a nice fun distraction.
So, I’m still somewhat torn but my thought is that I will continue training but with the caveat that on any given day if I want extra rest I can and will take it (shorter run, skip a run, whatever). In addition to the nice distraction, there is something to be said for the mood-boosting effect of running and I am pretty sure right now the net effect is helpful.
In other semi-related news, BAA announced the BQ times for 2026. As I kind of anticipated, they moved the benchmarks by 5 minutes. (Funnily enough, if they had done that in 2025 my 3:35:01 would have missed by ONE FREAKING SECOND!!! They didn’t though so I am still forever and always going to count it as a BQ, which it was by 4:59!).
THANKFULLY I am now old, so I don’t need a 3:35:00 for 2026 to qualify anymore. I just need a 3:45, which should be achievable; if I come close to May’s time I’ll have a (safe? I think?) 10 minute buffer. Boston 2026 actually seems like it could happen! I have until September 2025 to do this to BQ for 2026 so even if it doesn’t happen in December I’ll have lots of time. I do sort of regret choosing this December race. SPRING marathons (preferably April/early May) are so much better to train for if you live in Florida!
(I did not submit my 2025 time because we had already booked a vacation for that week with friends — and sounds like cutoff will be >5 min so it wouldn’t really have mattered if I did!)
If nothing else, this chart makes me feel peaceful about getting older. (As they say, not like there’s any great alternative . . .)
(Why have the times dropped ~15 min since I first wanted to BQ? My theories: 1) supershoes 2) popularity of racing/RunTok, 3) massively downhill races like Revel, 4) supershoes, 5) supershoes. I happen to love supershoes so I don’t have a problem with this, but they definitely make most people faster.)
STILL ON DOCKET FOR TODAY:
❏ BLPA Prep
❏ 20 min strength train
❏ BLP – Sept Q&A ep!
6 Comments
RunTok is really great — so motivating. I also think being a female athlete is more ok than it used to be. When I was growing up, many fewer women were serious athletes (I mean… I could train for 3 months and run a 64 second 400m — i.e., NOT FAST — and qualify for New Englands). Now it is more popular, and with social media feels a lot more accessible.
In other news, I have been able to run this past week a little with no increase (and maybe even a decrease) in foot pain! I did NINE WHOLE MINUTES today at 4.5 miles per hour on the treadmill (3×3 min with 1 min in between). I still want to keep up the cycling because it really seems to tone my legs, and I have to keep up the yoga because otherwise my PF will probably get worse again… but maybe, just maybe, a wee bit of progress has been made? I think if you scale back the running and chill for a little bit it may allow your body and brain to recover and you’ll come back even stronger.
Nice work on the writing! I hope this meh period ends for you soon. 🙂
hooray for pain free running!!!! excited for you. and while 64 sec 400 may not be competitive now it sounds pretty blazing fast to me 🙂
I am also excited about aging up to the next bracket for 2026! I submitted my time from Tunnel for 2025 but it’s a long shot. I think it’s time to find a spring marathon…
Yesssss! One actually fun benefit to aging!
agh. Feeling so so bummed my ~6 minute buffer won’t cut it this year and it looks like the target will keep moving. I think the six (now seven I guess? With Sydney) star medal is another huge factor not on your list (the rate of international participants has been increasing at quite a high rate with the dip during COVID travel bans) and as someone with no interest in pursuing that, at all, I’m probably targeting other goals rather than being frustrated by an ever changing standard and buffer. Bummed out by it though! I think you’ll have an amazing race in December.
Yes, it actually is fun to age up! One of the many perks of running.
I do feel like running usually relieves stress- but there have been times in my life that were SO stressful that running felt exhausting. In those cases it’s probably better to scale back.
Training for a December marathon in South Florida definitely is hard. I’m pretty sure every Florida runner right now is thinking “this will feel so easy when it cools down!” Unfortunately that won’t be for a while.