One of the most frustrating things about marathon training is feeling myself getting slower and slower.

On my long runs, I know that's going to happen. There's no way I could run 20 miles at a 9 minute pace. But I can definitely manage a 10 minute per mile average.

However, it seems like that 10 minute mile is starting to rub off on my shorter runs. The two runs I've done so far this week have both been kind of slow. Or well, slower than I was running the same distances this summer.

I know I said going into marathon training that it was going to be flexible, that I was going to stop worrying about speed and just enjoy the distance.

But I was so happy to see my times drop this summer and it's just hard to see them creep back up.

For the next two and a half weeks, I'm going to try to let it go. I'm just about in to taper for the Philly Marathon and the last thing I need to be do is risk an injury because I start trying to push the pace again.

So this is me temporarily letting go of speed.

What have you had to let go in your training that took you a while to get used to?