Here is an issue I have been struggling with lately: I can only run as far as I intend to run and no further. I know that sounds silly, if I ran as far as I intended to, who cares if I can run further? And for that matter, I should be leaving everything on the course anyway; if I have something left, it just means I didn't race hard enough. But it's not just about races and it's not about pace either. I'm not blistering out 5ks at a five minute mile; my fastest chip-timed pace is 9:20, and I did that in a half marathon. No, I have the same feeling at the end of a three mile training run as I do at the end of a 16-miler.
I find this effect to be quite demoralizing, especially on my shortest runs. I know for a fact I can run 26.2 miles--I even have a t-shirt that announces it to the world--so why do I feel like I should be checking myself into the insane asylum after each crappy five miler?As my next marathon approaches, I'm trying hard to get over this mental block. Maybe I'm hitting the wall at twenty days instead of twenty miles. That would be incredibly efficient of me, to get my bonking out of the way before the race even starts. Fingers crossed that's the case.
