Looking Ahead
Sunday, April 10, 2011
I started this post slumped over on the couch after a 13-hour day of work after missing my short recovery-run. At the time, I thought it might be a good idea to take a quick look back and grade myself on all aspects of my performance leading up to the National Half Marathon.
Running - A
The actual running end of my training went very well. I don't recall missing a single run the entire time and my paces proved to get stronger and more comfortable the further into training I got. I started in the neighborhood of 8:05/mile and ended up anywhere from 7:50-7:59/mile. I focused on form, easing into a run and negative-splitting ALL training runs. What really sealed the grade was that I did the majority of my runs indoors on a treadmill... in the winter... after work... in the dark.
Mental Health - A
My success on the treadmill fueled a pretty strong attitude. Sure, I was not excited to run on the treadmill, but I always felt great afterward b/c I continually nailed goals. Toward the end of training I was getting a bit antsy and ready to race (ready for endless training to be over), but I'm not counting that against myself. Another attribute that contributed to my positive attitude was definitely the location of the race - DC - which I love! So, not only was I looking forward to running a good time, but I was looking forward to visiting DC and doing it there!
Cross-Training - B
My cross-training started with a bang back in January with me cycling 2-3 days a week for at least an hour. However, once the volume of my running started to increase, I noticed my knees starting to swell up on me after runs. Not wanting to end my season a few weeks into 2011, I chose to majorly dial back the cycling and let the running take over.
Strength training, particularly in the legs, was a major part of my cross-training. This was to address my primary concern of injury prevention. I feel like this routine was integral to keeping me injury free and allowing me to push myself harder on runs and lower my pace. However, the last 3 weeks or so leading up the race saw me even dial this back a bit. All in all, I would have liked to keep cycling throughout all of training.
I majorly neglected abdominal work the last two months which could lower this grade even more. Part of my plan moving forward leading up to marathon training is to get that situation back under control. Regular gym routines now MUST include abs + legs, THEN the fun stuff - arms, chest, lats, etc.
Nutrition - C-
Honestly, this grade could even be worse. I was smart the first 1 1/2 months, cutting my weight down about 8-10 pounds since the holiday season, but then I simply let my training take over as being solely responsible for keeping the weight off. Sure, it worked, but I could have been much leaner and perhaps even faster had I adhered to a smarter diet. No excuses here - just my lack of will-power to blame. This has to change.
Sleep - B-
I found that I usually got 6-7 hours of sleep a night, which is OK but definitely not preferable. I need to consistently be in the 7-8 range, especially during the work-week. I have grand plans to start transitioning back to morning workouts now that there is no more snow on the ground, and to do so requires getting enough sleep that I can roll my ass out of bed early in the morning.
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As it stands, my next race is a 5k at the end of April that starts and ends at the park located less than two blocks away from me. Nice, huh? I'm setting my sites on a new PR, but nothing drastic or overly ambitious (in my opinion). In the meantime, I'll be steadily building my runs back up from 3-milers to 5-milers with some speed work mixed in. The key here is try and have some fun while keeping up a base fitness level (w/o over-doing it) so that I can be healthy/fit when I start marathon training in June.
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2 comments:
Don't be too hard on yourself - you hit your "pie in the sky" goal of running 8:00/mile and at the end of the day, results are what matter. Its always easy to forget where you started and fail to appreciate the journey.
Take those other areas you pointed out to recognize the amount of opportunities to improve going forward. As a rough rule, each lb lost equals about 2s/mile, so tightening up the body comp can certainly help you drop those times further (and help injury prevention) as you build toward the marathon. Since you are in a relative "down" period from training, take the time now to focus on body comp, so you don't have to worry as much about it once the marathon training takes over. Sounds like you're in a good place right now - and that 5k will be a great way to kick things off!
After re-reading what I wrote, I think I probably came off sounding a bit harder on myself than I actually feel. There's no doubt that I'm more than happy with how I did at the race, yet I almost feel like I should shove that out of my mind so that I can get focused on what lays ahead, you know?
I like that rule of thumb - one pound = 2 sec/mile. My racing weight during TRI training was 175, which is 10lbs lighter than where I am now. To think I can knock 10 seconds/mile off of my pace (while also standing on the shoulders of where my running is currently at) is just awesome.
"Body comp" is definitely the right thing to focus on right now, too. I'm signed up for a Sprint TRI in early June which, just by proxy of the three disciplines involved, will help tighten up my proportions before marathon-training begins in earnest. Thanks always for the advice and feedback!
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