It seems that my training this annual cycle has included a lot of ups and downs. It also seems like the only time I blog is on the down turn of the wave. On that note its Thursday, I should have run 7 yesterday and should be running 6 total with 4 miles of tempo today. However, I am resting on both days. Once again, I had 2 good weeks followed by one that left me in enough pain to take days off days on the following week.
I had a great run on Monday the 29th, 14 miles, about 9 of it on the AT with some very good vertical gain. I felt tired after, but not particularly sore. In fact, I felt good enough to jump in a car about 15 minutes after finishing and heading to the Shepaug river for some flood stage kayaking. 2 weeks ago I missed my long run due to logistics and missed trains, but still felt alright the rest of the week. During this most recent week, I felt great, hit all my mileages during the week and only rescheduled my 16 miler from Monday to Tuesday, because I had the chance to go Kayaking most the day Monday and didn’t want to miss it. Tuesday, I worked 8 hours and then still had a lovely long run on the AT again. I felt great for most of it until the last 2 miles on the road back to the farm when I started feeling a little sore. The next morning I had to take Advil all day just to get through work, as my IT band was killing me.
Keeping a training journal means nothing if you don’t take away knowledge from reviewing it. Looking back it seams, that my lower mileage runs are going well. I maintain about 7-8 minute mile pace, I don’t really aggravate anything during these runs, but I also don’t really heal during them. In other words, my mid week mileage is not serving its purpose as recovery miles. The demands of physical labor with about and hour of running added on is not allowing my body the recovery it needs after longer runs. Given that I am training to run 50 miles at 9-10 minute mile pace, a 7 mile run at 8 minute miles doesn’t do a whole lot to push the correct type of fitness.
Longer runs may push the kind of fitness that I need for my race, but if i can’t recover properly after them, they actually turn out to be more harmful than beneficial. Also, I like longer runs better. When I set out for a mid week 6-8 mile run, My mindset is normally one of getting the run over with, getting the “chore” of weekly mileage out of the way. I still generally enjoy running in most all (outdoor) forms, but long runs are really the reason I love running.
This is why I prefer ultras to say a marathon or a 10k. Racing is fun, becoming really fit is fun, but I like to run because its time that I can get out and commune with nature and my own body and mind. I can explore new trails, observe the annual changes in my favorite places, see loads of wildlife and let my mind wonder from the mundane to the fantastical. Long runs are what I love, and ultimately what push my fitness for the kind of racing I do.
To this end I think that I am going to adjust my training to better accommodate my physical work load and my own training preferences. It’s silly, I see now, to sacrifice some of the joy running can bring me all year in order to be only slightly better prepared (in the best case, injured in the worst case) for a race that lasts only a few hours.
I am still going to shoot for weekly mileages that mirrors the training schedule I posted, but I am going to leave my day to day mileage decisions to how I feel mentally and physically. I think that that will most likely look like 3 long runs a week with maybe 1-2 shorter runs and 1 cross training day. Hopefully more rest days, and more possitive energy about runs, will lead to more frequent blog post too.
Tuesday: rest Wednesday: 7 Thursday: 4 Friday: 6 Saturday: rest Sunday: Missed due to Saturday’s party Monday: 3 due to a missed train from NY to CT Tuesday: rest Wednesday: 7 Thursday: 5 Friday: 6 Saturday:rest Sunday: 7 Monday: 14 Tuesday: rest Wednesday: 7 Thursday: 6 Friday: 6 Saturday: rest Sunday: 7 Monday: 2 hours of whitewater kayaking and playboating Tuesday: 16 Wednesday: rest Thursday: rest
