Posts Tagged ‘race goals’

Yesterday’s run was entertaining; the first time I ever stopped on a run to take photos.  Thanks again for responding so well to the What would you like? thread, this was one of the suggestions and a fun one at that.  You’re about to see how spoiled I am and why I love running.

This is one of many bridges on my route

Look on the path near the bottom of this photo, notice a number with a line going across the path? It’s our 1/4 mile markers, they follow the 8.5 mi. loop around the museum. I ran the loop for a whole year without realizing they where there.  This is one of two spots where I do my interval sessions.

Coming back towards the city, a bit of skyline.

The back of the museum, about 3/4 mi from home.

Me, happy.

Getting Realistic

Good thoughts today, borne of a slow speed session.

First off, that remark I made about pacing someone in the previous post? Forget it, I just wanted an excuse to run slower.  Can’t blame me for trying.

Today I’m doing my speedwork (10.5mi with 6×1/2mi at 5K pace and 2min rec’s) and I couldn’t get moving fast, maybe due to lack of sleep, I could only manage 3:27s (6:55 pace) and though I felt I was working hard, my HR averaged 83%HRR on the fast parts and only maxed to 89% on one, so it was more like 10k effort.  When a workout goes like that, you have two choices: A. berate yourself or B. accept it was your best on that day and be happy with it.  I chose B.

I tend to get very philosophical while in the midst of a hard workout, though I think about the way my body’s moving and my form and footfall, I’ll also have bursts where I look for meaning in running and how I fit in.  It’s a helpful distraction from “how much longer” “where’s the end?” “almost half way” “shit, too slow” “where’s the end?!?”

Today’s thought was how we’re all unique within this sport.  We each have something about us that makes our running adventure special, unlike anyone else’s and when we’re stalled or questioning ourselves, it’s worth taking the time to remember those things.

I’m always comparing myself to my faster online friends, many of whom are enjoying continued speediness, while I seem to be on the two steps forward, one step back plan.  Why do I conveniently manage to forget that I’m a 48 year old woman?  I’ve got no right to ever feel sorry for myself.  To that end, I punched my Half PR in an age-grade calculator to see what it’d be for a 35 year-old man…1:16.  I have nothing to complain about.

Let The Goal Appear

I’ve been trying to fit numbers into a goal, but really, that’s ass-backwards.  The goal needs to come from the numbers.  I’m slower than last cycle, and while I’ve been boo-hooing about it, if I could manage to be objective and enjoy what I have instead of thinking wistfully of what I don’t, it’d make for a better 10 weeks coming up.

You know what a mental case I am, well I have a 5-mile race next week and a Half in March and I was fretting over what sort of times I can expect – especially from the 5-miler since I haven’t raced in months.   But after my speed session today and a dose of logical thinking, I thought, what will happen if I come back with a bad result?  Does that make me stupid?  A bad runner?  Not a good person?  I don’t think so.  Interesting how much crap from the universe we can subconsciously attach to a race time.

Tomorrow

We’re expecting 10 to 20″ of snow tomorrow with high winds, so I’ll likely take the day off – no loss, it was a recovery run anyway.  In the morning I’ll be adding 10 new designs to The Gifted Runner, woohoo!

OK, have a good Wednesday and cheers to my snow buddies across the Eastern seaboard. Stay safe and warm, everyone.

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.

Alright!  333 miles for October, a mileage PR and my body’s behaving wonderfully, no tweaks or sluggishness, knock on wood.  Here’s how October looked (click it for real size):

Now on to today… a “Hard 20″: 1 easy, 18@GMP+20sec., 1 easy.  I’ve been working with 7:30s as my GMP, even though I’ve been waffling about what my goal actually will be.  It’s just an easy number to deal with.  So today’s goal was 7:50s for the 18 portion.

The weather was perfect, 55 and overcast, touch of rain at the beginning and some light wind.  It went swimmingly, ending up with 7:46 avg for the 18, 7:51 avg for the entire run.  With this result, I’m thinking 7:30 is back to being a reasonable GMP, so forget 3:18, sub 3:17 is what I’ll be shooting for.  Yay.

In another reconsideration move, I mentioned I was going to do 90miles this next week.  After some back and forth with one of my favorite posters on MRT, A Muse (whom I consider the Running Buddha at the RW forums with his generous and sage advice) I realized that this was not the wisest placement for a 90.

When I saw A Muse’s peak volume week landed 6 weeks out, I went and looked at Pfitzinger and Daniels and saw that they, too, peak at 6 weeks, so it wasn’t making sense to me to have my highest volume come 3 weeks out, especially when it’s also my hardest quality week.  That’s what I get for following Hudson’s plan as written, I was supposed to think about it and adjust, but was lazy.

So I’m going to keep it around 81 for the third week in a row.  Like I wrote in the Hudson thread, the only reason I’d be going 90 is to assuage my ego and my ego’s not running Philly.  I’ll save 90 for the Boston cycle.  That means I also get to skip the one double in the plan, since I don’t need to split that day up now.

Lastly, I’m subtracting some mileage from my taper weeks because Hudson would have me at 70 the week preceding race week and that doesn’t seem very taperish to me.  So today was my last 20 of the cycle!  Next weekend’s LR will be 17 (thank you,  A Muse).

The week ahead looks like this:
Mon: 8 w/10 hill sprints
Tues: 12 w/8×2min @ HP
Wed:14 last 7 moderate
Thurs: 8 or 9 easy (supposed to be another progression but I’ll see how I feel)
Fri: 14 w/10MP
Sat: 8
Sun: 17

Crossing fingers there’ll be no life drama interweaving said schedule,  just some steady running.   Later, fellow running fiends.

OK, this marathon business has been starting to get me down a bit, not in a major way, but enough that I’ve been questioning myself and what my goals are and thinking I’m biting off more than I can chew.  Yet, when I step back and look at the difference between an aggressive goal and one that seems more doable, there’s only a couple minutes between them! Which is the nature of racing, when you think about it.

Take my Half, for instance.  I was disappointed because it was a minute over what I’d envisioned (going with my original goal of sub 1:33 here).  Now, take a minute, 60 seconds, and divide it by 13.1.  We’re talking the difference of about 4.5 seconds per mile.  4.5 seconds.  It’s so…nothing!  Yet that time frame is all one needs to beat oneself up.  It’s kooky when you think about it.

So here I am, thinking about the Big M, The Philadelphia Marathon, and re-evaluating what I think will be good for me.  Yes, I want to hit it out of the park without doubt, and in the back of my mind, I’d been entertaining 3:16ish but as it gets closer, I’m thinking that’s too aggressive for where I’m at.  My times, while better than a few months ago, aren’t dropping as I’d hoped.  Not to say I’ve plateaued, but I thought my mileage would make the bottom drop just a bit quicker than it has been.

Along with this, I’m in the RW sub 3:20 thread which is taking a hit on my ego, though entirely my own fault.  The thread was started for sub 3:20ers, but almost all of them have surpassed that dramatically, yet they stay in the thread for the camaraderie (they really are a super cool crew and I love being in the circle).  But they’re faster than me and when I post my workouts, I feel like the slow cousin.

I know this is my own mental crap and if I’d only remind myself that I’m twice the age of the other gal (zoomy Agile) and the rest are men (the majority younger than me), then I’d be able to give myself a break.  But I can’t help it, I feel like one of the crowd, so I feel the pressure.

Anyway, all this to say, I need to stop wanting to perform like those around me and just stick with what I’m capable of.  I’m still going for sub 3:20, no doubt about it, but I’m taking it down a notch and at this point, I’m thinking 3:18 is the top lid of what I should be aiming for, no higher.

Which brings me back to the difference between that and my original goal.  What is it?  Maybe 3 seconds different per mile?  3 seconds! Yet enough to bring me out of “oh shit, I’m not sure this is going to work” to “ok, I can do this”.  Crazy how a couple minutes spread out over the span of over 3 hours can make such a difference to the mind.

But enough mental strife for the moment.  I had a strong speed session today: 10 miles w/5×1000@5k pace w/2min recoveries.  The fast bit went 6:30, 6:24, 6:26, 6:30, 6:29…avg 6:28.  No reason for anything but satisfaction, but I guess that’s not in my DNA.

Eeewwww scary…3:16:38.  There, I said it.  At least, that’s how it looks from a big fat 18 weeks away.  My reasoning?  I like 7:30, it’s pretty.  And 26.22 of them = 3:16:38 (edited to get that .02 in).

OK, my outside goal is sub 3:20, which my 5K PR more than agrees with (a useless fact if I didn’t have a 60 mpw base to back it up).   In a couple weeks I’ll be averaging 70mpw and plan to peak at 90.  Add to that 4 months of focused quality work and 7:30s seem quite reasonable.

So I’ve got 18 weeks until D-day…one can do some good damage in that amount of time.  In fact, I just realized today that it was 18 weeks between Jan 1st and May 3rd (my Spring goal race).   Granted, I’m sure I won’t see quite such a dramatic drop as those months brought since part of that was a 10lb weight loss, but still, the trend continued steadily for each successive month after I’d lost the weight, so I’m certain there’s room for another good chunk of improvement before November.

To that end, I started marathon training on Monday.  Yeah, I know, I said I’d start first week of August, but I looked at the plan again (prompted by comments in the last post) and figured it’s pretty much what I’d be doing if I was freeforming, so why not give Hudson the credit and call this week 3 of his Level III plan?  I miss being told what to do.

So…Monday was an easy 8, avg pace 8:19.  Tuesday was 9 with 8 x 40sec. “fartleks” (Hudson’s version) at 10k-3k pace – avg for the run, 8:22.   This morning I had 11 with the last 5 “moderate”, which turned out to be 7:36s for the faster bit and 8:10 avg. for the whole run (trying to keep my easy miles a tad slower these days).

Ah, a fresh training plan – its framework shows potential like nothing else.  It’s like building a bigger and better house every single time.  Exciting to imagine the possibilities.  God, I love it.

Today’s run: 11 miles – 2 miles warmup, 6 tempo@goal Half pace, 3 cooldown.

Last Friday’s tempo post resulted in some interesting comments from my blogging/running friend Julie, a speedy broad whose opinion I highly respect.  She thought my HR for that tempo was on the low end for a Half and after thinking about it, I agreed, realizing that it would have been a very comfortable HR had I been running the Half that day instead of May 3rd.  So I bumped it up today keeping her HR suggestion in mind of 86-87% avg.

It felt like a more reasonable race effort than last week, though frankly, I’m surprised at the max HR – it maxed as high as my 10k race last month!  It didn’t feel anything like the 10K though, just felt like a good tempo run.  Go figure – could be the temps, hydration, sleep…or that I ran too fast.   Silly monitor.

Here’s the dirt:

Pace    Avg HRR     Max HRR
7:22    169(81%)    175(85%)
7:18    175(85%)    177(86%)
7:11    178(87%)    181(89%)
7:14    180(88%)    182(90%)
7:19    181(89%)    184(91%)
7:17    182(90%)    184(91%)

Avg pace 7:17, Avg HR 178 (86.7%)

Even with the high Max, I’m feeling good about it.  After all, I still have 1/3 of my cycle left to go, ain’t no way I’m done yet.   So, as of this moment, 1:35:xx  is firmly in my sights.