This week was 41 miles of running, 16 "miles" of pool-running, and 2000 yards of swimming -- training log is here.
Another week, with a good workout and a meh race. I do wonder if those two weren't correlated - every year, it seems like my recovery takes just a bit longer.
I suspect, as I wrote in my race report, that much of it was just that I need to race fairly regularly in order to stay in touch with what race effort feels like. I'd write "lesson learned" except that I knew that one already.
I had originally planned to fit in a long run on Sunday, but my coach nixed it - ordering me to run for no longer than an hour. His reasoning was that Saturday morning had been pretty hot and humid, and I'm still 3 months out from CIM - there was no need for me to be doing any long runs just yet.
I was annoyed at first, but then realized that a Sunday long run this week would have been for mostly the wrong reason.
To go into detail: I think all serious runners train for two reasons:
1) to improve their running performance.
2) to feel better about themselves.
Nobody is exclusively motivated by one or the other - it's a blend of both, though the motivation to do any single workout can be based more on one or the other.
For example, when I have a great 20 miler during my peak week of training where I cruise the last 7 miles at marathon pace and feel fluid - that workout has done a lot for my fitness, and also made me feel like a bad ass. So...that workout was driven by both reasons.
But....there are many times that someone is driven almost exclusively by the second, emotional motivation. Examples include:
- Running a 20 miler every single weekend, to establish one's dedication to marathon training.
- Running 10 miles the day before a race, to relieve oneself of pressure to perform during the race.
- Adding a bit onto the end of a run so that the weekly total comes out to a round number
(I do this one all the time - ever noticed how my weekly totals are almost always a round number, rather than a half-mile?) - Doing a workout/race because it's on the schedule and the schedule must be followed at all costs, even though one's calf/hip/whatever feels off.
- Jumping in that big peaking workout even though one is several months out from the goal race because everyone else doing it and nobody likes being left out.
- Running even though you feel like utter crap and are functioning on 2 hours of sleep because you want that high.
[examples of things that are driven mostly by the urge to improve include doing PT exercises consistently, holding back on marathon pace workouts to get a feel for the proper pace, and taking a day off if every road in the area is covered with ice.]
It's OK to do workouts and runs just for the emotional benefits sometimes - heck, that's what my self-designated "month of less-than-smart choices" in July was about. But, if I really want to improve my running, I have to make sure that, on the whole, my decisions are targeted towards running my fastest when it counts.
And the truth is that I wanted to do a long run on Sunday to make myself feel better about my meh race on Saturday. As a friend once described it, the "punish myself" theory of training. Soothing my ego, but accomplishing nothing else while adding stress and injury risk.
While it's too early to be doing serious long runs for CIM, it's not too early to make sure my training decisions are based on the right reasons.
Dailies
Monday: Yoga and 8 "miles" of pool-running. Foam rolling at night.
Tuesday: 12.5 miles, including a track workout of 6x800, 4x200 in 3:04, 3:01, 2:58 (well...3:03 less a shoe tying break), 2:58, 2:55, and 2:51. And then 41, 40, 41, 41. Also injury prevention work and recovery swimming. Foam rolling at night.
Wednesday: 10 miles very easy (9:28) and then DIY yoga. Sports massage in afternoon.
Thursday: Upper body weights/core, DIY yoga, and 8 "miles" pool-running. Foam rolling at night.
Friday: 3.5 miles very easy (8:58) and then DIY yoga. Foam rolling at night.
Saturday: 3.5 miles warm-up, and then a 5K in 19:48. 2.5 miles cool-down and then 1000 yards of recovery swimming.
Sunday: 6 miles very easy (9:02) and then a yoga class. Foam rolling at night.
I often wonder if doing any marathon training at all in NOLA in the summer is totally emotional - I mean, are we doing ANY good slogging through these hot miles? But I'm giving myself a break this year, because we had a remarkably cool summer, with few morning runs breaking 90F (the evenings were, but I only run in the afternoon once a week, so not a big deal). Anyway, I get what you're saying - I'm guilty of this if I have a bad race; I tend to push myself too hard the next workout. I don't think about it, but I am doing it nonetheless!
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