December 2nd, 2009
An uneventful few days but lots of thinking going on. First, I’ll give a catch-up on the running scene.
I recovered just fine, the calf twinge went away by keeping the mileage in check and now I’m back to my battle axe self. Runs went: 8 Sat, 9 Sun and 6 on Mon. The 6 was pretty fun because I never run that short, aside from tapering, so I was able to pick up the pace a bit.
Yesterday, in my quest to dial back before the next marathon cycle (can’t believe it starts in 4 weeks!) I took a rest day. I figure I’ll take one rest day/week through December, then back to 7 days/week with the rare day off.
Now for some fun. Exactly a year ago someone posted a thread on MRT asking everyone what their goals for 2009 were and it was bumped back up a couple days ago. I had completely forgotten ever writing these goals, so what a trip it was seeing them again and comparing how it all panned out:
1. Race more
I did, but only by one race.
2. sub 3:38 Fall marathon on a non-asterisk course.
Even with a miserably long bonk, I managed to surpass my if-everything-goes-right-dream-goal by 5 minutes. Talk about putting things in perspective.
3. Low 21:xx 5K
In June I got 20:25 which I might test again in a couple weeks.
4. Keep around 50mpw avg. but enjoy adding more in the summer to achieve #2 (enjoyment necessary)
Did this to a T, averaged 70s+ by Fall and had a great time doing it.
5. No injuries
I was introduced to my IT Band this year, so I can’t say I had none, but that was it.
I look at this list and realize what a different runner I’ve become within a 12-month span. And while I still have angst about Philly (not helped by the worst race pictures ever – either walking, looking at my watch or just being god-awful ugly) I have so much to be grateful for.
Speaking of angst, I’ve been thinking a lot about marathons and our future together and have made a decision: The two marathons I have planned for 2010 will determine whether I will continue marathoning or not – if between the two I can’t pull out a good one, or they don’t approach my shorter races Age-grade-wise, I’m done.
I don’t mean this in an “I’m taking my toys and going home” type of way, but as in “OK, turns out I have more fast twitch fibers in me than slow“ so that’s what I’d rather develop. My 5K from June nets me an Age-grade of 80.86% (National Class…I’m so fancy) and I’m pretty sure, not having reached the 3-year running mark yet, that I have at least a couple years of faster short races ahead of me. So while I could keep marathoning until I get it right, I’d rather spend my energy doing what I’m better suited for.
The only sad part about this is, if it works out the way I suspect it might, I’ll have to part with a wonderful group of forum friends since my favorite hangout is Marathon Race Training, but I’ve got a year before I need to worry about that.
The important thing here is to be objective about my skill set and not place a value judgment on myself if I can’t run marathons well. It doesn’t mean I suck, it means it’s not my race, is all. Should that be the case, I’ll simply develop my strengths and make a killing winning gift cards, turkeys, travel mugs and a buck or two, while having a huge amount of fun doing it. So here’s to clarity and seeing how the next year unfolds – not knowing is half the fun.
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Of course we’ll miss you at MRT, but – I have to agree that one should play to one’s strengths, and if you are better at the shorter distances and enjoy them more, that’s what you should do!
Oh Flo I feel like shedding a tear….
Funny about your pics because I had 4 of me walking which was so annoying but the others were pretty good – i just bought one last night of me coming into the finish.
I think you are smart with the idea of possibly just doing shorter races b/c you know you can kick ass! So if marathons don’t work out, would you still do halfs or would those be out of the picture as well?
Stevi girl, why? It’s all for happiness and we’ll have a lot of fun this year at Boston and Chicago.
Runforlife, definitely Halfs are in! That’d probably be what I focus on most, plus it’s on par with my 5K (79.66% AG).
Btw, for anyone looking up Age-Grading, a lot of online calculators still use the 1994 factors, so you want to make sure to use one that employs the latest (2006) factors, as it’s a bit more favorable. I use the Runners World one or this one.
I don’t think it’s a slow/fast twitch thing. Most track athletes consider 5k to be a slow-twitch distance after all. But yes, it is a skill set.
Marathoning has it’s disadvanteges, particularly that you can’t race all that often if you’re trying to do well. Halves have a lot going for them. (Listen to me, Mr. serial marathoner) Someone once pointed out to me that halves often have a majority of women entrants, while full marathons have majority men. My take: The women are probably more sensible in their distance choices.
But hey, you will probably have a good race at Boston, and change your mind
I disagree with your disagreeing about fast twitch/slow
, while 5K is considered long distance in the track world, there’s a reason people who specialize in them (or other “short” distances) don’t race marathons and vice versa. And I think women are more likely to race Halfs due to having kids & family more than anything. It’s harder to commit that time when you have a family to take care of. Same reason there’s such a large demographic of Masters runners/racers, I bet.
Hey, don’t you have a taper to attend to instead of disagreeing with me? Tee hee, thinking about you Jim, you’re going to kick some serious CIM ass this weekend!
Hey, Flo. I’d cry salty, salty tears if you went from MRT, but I’m confident you won’t because you’ll run the race you’re capable of in 2010. I really do think you have that sub-3:20 in you. Philly ’09 just didn’t work out, and we’ll probably never know exactly why. Your training was impeccable, for example.
Enough talking about the (potential) negative (well, negative from my perspective anyway) – let’s celebrate the positive! Can you believe how much you blew most of your ’09 goals away? I wish I’d posted on that thread last year, but it came up before CIM ’08 and I felt like too much hinged on whether I BQ’d there.
Anyway, congratulations again!
Barb, you’re going to slaughter CIM as well, I am so pumped for you!! You’ve got it all under control and have been running really well so I foresee you being even more irritated for not having written goals in that thread, since you’d have surpassed them easily. Woohoo, go girl!!
And if I end up leaving MRT maybe I’ll pull a King Dooong, turn into Deena Kastor and start posting in the California forum (for no reason except I like the Cali group from MRT), so save those tears.
hey, Flo, I’m doing a paper on running as a job and was just curious if you consider running a job for you?
Runforlife, hell no! If I did, I’d be trying to weasel out of it all the time and would surely succeed. It’s still too fun to feel that way and (knock on wood) I hope it stays like that. Cool paper idea though. Are you finding some people who actually do it as a job or just feel that way? Lots of people love their jobs so I could see some enjoying it even if they thought of it as one, but since I hate jobs on principle and am permanently spoiled by lackadaisical self-employment, it colors my view. (h)
Lol! I’m looking at pro runners and also people who just feel that way and comparing the two. Some feel that because of all the work and training they put into running it can be seen as a job even if they aren’t getting paid for it because there are other payoffs they get such as self confidence and healthy lifestyle.
Very interesting, that does reflect some positive qualities of having a job. I’m not really aware of the time spent training because my life schedule is whatever I decide, no family to consider, so I’ve never had pressure about “getting in” the runs. But if I had kids and a hubby to juggle (or a 9-5 job), it would definitely be a lot more challenging to accomplish and with it, feel more job-like. Good luck with the paper, maybe some other commenters here will have something to add.
As an aside, I hope when I talk about my non-family life nobody feels bad for me (I can hear some of you sweet people thinking “awww” from here). I love my life and it’s the path I’ve chosen from the get-go, I never wanted kids, just not interested. I knew I’d enjoy seeing what kind of trouble I could get up to as the years progressed and so far, I haven’t been disappointed. Just thought I’d throw that out there.
The marathon has its seductions. While shorter races are harder, they don’t have the pay-off of a marathon well run. My age-graded times are very similar from the mile to the HM, all much better than for the marathon. It’s one reason to split the year in two. I think running a fast HM is much tougher than running a marathon. Different, but tougher.
(FWIW, I’m also on the no-interest-in-kids train, as, fortunately, is my wife.)
It seems impossible that it’s already time to be reflecting on 2009. You did a real nice job with yours. I think it helps a lot to have them in writing so that you can go back and see what has been accomplished. As a group, I think us marathoners tend to be pretty tough on ourselves, and you don’t seem to be an exception to that rule. So, it’s good to see that you realized how positive of a year it was. (Note the apostrophe…) Oh, and IT band injuries suck. Let’s hope that was just a 2009 thing.
Flo!!!! Alright, 2 marathons, but sub 4 hours does NOT mean marathons “aren’t your thing”!!!!! That is complete crazy talk. The marathon is a beast and, for some, takes YEARS to overcome. Don’t discount yourself from 2 awesome races, just b/c you fell short of your goal. With that being said, if you WANT to only run shorter distances, then do it. None of us are running for a living, so you need to do what makes you happy. If improving your 5K or 10K is what you want to do, then do it. If you want to improve in the marathon, then do it. You are far too much of a newbie to put that label on yourself.
YOU ARE AWESOME and CAN do whatever you want to do.
Kids are overrated anyway. Their legs aren’t long enough to keep up on training runs. Heh heh.
I’d like to join the chorus entreating you not to give up on the marathon too hastily. You’ve made great strides, self-coached, over the course of just two races. I think you’ve still got a lot of potential at the distance. Half marathons are a worthy goal — I wish I ran them better than I do. Looking down the road, they’re probaby what I’ll focus on if I ever get sick of the full distance.
I am with you. I only keep coming back for that mile 18-26 feeling. Really.
Seriously, though I totally understand this strategy if it turns out that you are best at shorter distances – but sorta hard to tell right now, huh?
Your ITB excercises are GREAT. I can really feel it up in my hip adductors and can tell I am weak there. Oh, and the red foam roller on the ITB = ooo laaa laaa.
p.s. my race pictures, even when I’m running, look like I’m walking LOL
Hi again, Flo – As I threatened I would, I put a post in the Women’s BQ thread about comparing my garmin vs mapmyrun (closer than I expected) and how to target training paces and goal race paces.
Take a peek and let me know what you think…
ps: Although we’re not kidless by choice, we’re actually not only at peace, but happy with the way things turned out in the end.
You smashed your goals Flo, so how good a year was that?!
That’s a super-mature effort at angst-sorting. I totally see where you’re coming from, having been in a similar place myself (I loved the idea of running marathons, but wasn’t suited to them). You might be though, so don’t have too negative a vibe going through next year. If it’s not marathons, it’s up to you to make the ‘fast 5ks’ thread the one to be on in 2011. Let me know, and I’ll join you there
By the way, I think Joe G is a good example of the FT/ST ‘problem’ — being a former very fast 400m runner, and therefore (my take), not so good at marathons. For you though, maybe it’s something else in the skill set (running economy for instance), unless you run sub-70 secs for 400m (60ish when younger).
i wrote a similar post on my blog recently-wondering what my future as a marathoner is and what could be if I really focused on the half-marathon, as I feel that is my strongest distance. That thinking is not so much results-oriented as I was very happy with my times in both marathons that I finished. But moreso concern about injury-as I really don’t want to be on the DL constantly, I love running too much for that. I just wish shorter distances would get the respect they deserve sometimes…
Hi Flo,
We have a lot in common, both relatively new kick-ass master runners who both are planning to run the Boston at 3:20. Please see my running schedule posted on my blog (ran high mileage (up to 70 mpw) this last year for my June marathon (3:28), and am running a pared down version of Brad Hudson’s Level 3 Marathon Plan this time around and I’ll see how that goes).
Anyhow, I’ve been loosely following your blog and respectively disagree with your mindset on your marathon abilities, because you successfully endured all the 3:20 marathon training leading up to the race. I think it was all in your execution and maybe other factors outside your control.
Here’s hoping to a great Boston Marathon for both of us!