Plane flight

on Saturday, August 5, 2006 at 11:25 AM

Did 7.5 miles today including 8 strides Average pace of around 8:30 min/mile. Pfitz's plan is a bit strange this week as up till now it's been recovery runs of up to 5 miles the day before the long run which Pfitz has at 18 miles for tomorrow. Next week schedule is also a bit different as it has the tempo run on Friday, whereas it's always been on Tuesday's and there's a recovery run on tuesday in which I'm not really recovering from or for anything. Also next week is the first 20 mile long run.

I've started looking at flights to Chicago. Up till now, though I've paid the registration fee, booked vacation days and a hotel, and did all this training, a part of me always felt that if I had to bail I could and all I would be out is the $100 entrance fee. However the determining factor will be booking my flight as I'll probably empty out my frequent flyer account by booking the flight on points. At that point there will be no turning back. I'm just having a hard time trying to figure out when I should fly over.

Though I've done three marathons, I've never had to travel anywhere to do them. My initial thought was to fly over Saturday morning. I could get a good nights sleep at home and carbo load on Friday night, but I'm thinking that it would make for a hectic day on Saturday of getting to the airport, flying over, checking into the hotel, getting my race kit and doing whatever the heck else I have to do the day before the race. I think I'd like to fly over Friday, but am not sure if I should try and do it after work or whether I should just take that day off and fly over early afternoon. There are positives and negatives to both. If I travel after work, I'll get caught in rush hour traffic, probably won't have an opportunity to carbo load and my sleep that night might be a bit off. If I travel during the day, I have to take that day as a vacation day which I'd rather not do since i only have a few left. Decisions, decisions....

3 comments:

yumke said...

The 20 miler is already upon you? I have a few weeks left for mine. Yeah, I've already booked my hotel for Chicago and I have it for Friday, so I'm going to fly first thing Friday morning. I figure i may want to do some touring on Friday, then use Saturday to rest up for the big day..

Anonymous said...

i've had so many problems flying recently due to weather (and it could be weather in any part of N.America that delays your flight from arriving to pick you guys up) that you might want to earlier just to make sure..ya know..you get there in time for the race! just my 2 cents :) How exciting!

Arcane said...

Yeah 20 miler is next week. The pfitz plan really ramps up the long run quickly.

Thanks for the advice. I think your right that it's best to play it safe and fly over earlier rather than later.

temp