I'm now 4 weeks into a 20 week transformation. I've run 152 of 834 miles, and this past weekend was a reality check.......
My last training plan was tough, but I'd never done it before so I was blissfully ignorant in what was coming. Which workouts would be tough, how the holidays, weather, eating, etc would play out. Now I know. This is good, and bad. I know it's ok to shuffule things around some, I know what kind of meals to eat before long runs. BUT, I'm operating now on some razor thin margins if I wanna hit 2:56. Before I was training for 3:30, and on my pace runs, I struggled some, but I always ran at least 10sec below. Now, with a more advanced plan, and a more aggressive pace, I'm battling each workout to hit the numbers. It's been a huge dose of reality..........this ain't gonna be a "just do the workout" ride.
The toughest workouts so far have been the "run for ___ min at goal pace". Seems easy enough, running 45 minutes or 60 minutes at 6:40 is waaaayyyyy less than a marathon, WRONG!! For whatever reason, this workout has eaten my lunch twice thus far. First time was in week 2, run 45 min at goal pace. I should have been able to run ~7 miles and ran 6.61. I struggled so bad at one point I stopped at mile 3.5 screamed a few expletives into the sky and had a mini pep talk with myself just starring back at the road until I had the confidence to finish the workout. I finished 9sec off pace, and was pretty pissed off. I thought I had things figured out for the next time this workout showed up......wrong. This time I was 1,000 miles from home over a holiday and felt like I was training for an eating competition, not a marathon. I had mastered the art of over eating.....which, if you want to know, the secret is to eat til you almost throw up, then lay flat on your back on the floor to take the gravity off your stomach. Taking a nap while performing this workout works too :) Anyway, I digress. Saturday after Eats-giving, I had to run 60 min @ goal pace. I knew I needing something flat so Maura and I drove to a nice rail trail close by. We'd run this last year so I knew it was "flat-ter" than her neighborhood. I'd fueled up, temps were good, I was ready to do this.....redemption time.
Started out good, first miles were in the 6:40 range, not perfect, but acceptable. Then, I hit a couple rolling hills. Shit. A sure sign that this isn't gonna go well is looking down and seeing 7+ in the pace section of my watch. Reality SMACKS me in the face.....6:40 is F-ing fast and is gonna be a battle all day. The trail was beautiful, and I wish I had some pics, I was a better cameraman than runner today. Tall trees, a bubbling brook, sun peeking through the branches and lots of people all out trying to better themselves.....usually a receipe for a great run......YOU HEAR THAT RUNNING GODS!!??? AH-HEM!!! "RECIPE FOR A GREAT RUN!!!" No answer. Fine, I'll do this on my own today. Stupid trees, stupid inclines, stupid......bah!
This is my kryptonite......mentally I build myself up so much before a big run that I have a hard time holding on if things sputter for too long. I start to doubt things, start calling Manning-like audibles on my goals half way through..."pace 6:42, watch the hills, check that heart rate, I think we need a stretch, laces too tight!..." Lame. Mile 7 of 9 was at 7:10!.....heart rate was like 185, way too high for that kind of pace. A this point I wanted to just be done. I didn't have anything left. Maybe I didn't eat enough, drink enough before I went out. Maybe I need to adjust my pace.....not an option yet. I'm on unfamiliar ground....I wanna destroy every workout.....but maybe that's not how this works. Maybe I need these struggles because that shows me that it IS the right pace...I'm not that far off, and most workouts I do kill. Great things are accomplished under stress. Do I wanna weather the storm....or BE the storm? Week 5....looks like it's time to make it rain!
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