In the past couple of months I have had so many moments in which I could not wrap my head around anything that was going on. Then, around mile 10 on Sunday, everything suddenly seemed so clear.
In my race recap this week I talked about how in the last 5k of Shamrock I seemed stuck in one gear. I realize now that this whole “one gear” thing comes from something that’s been going on for a while both mentally and physically that I am now working to change or improve.
Dual training is not for me
Signing up for a marathon when I was so intent on a goal in a half marathon was a huge mistake. In a few of my long runs, I’ve asked myself which race that run was for.
In a way I’m glad that I pushed myself beyond the half marathon distance a few weeks ago – it made me not think so much about the distance I was covering Sunday.
In many ways, though, I have struggled with the marathon training aspect because I really needed more miles both in long runs and overall mileage. Two weeks ago, for example, I probably should have been running 16 miles for my weekly long run; this week should have been about 18.
A PR in Shamrock always trumped marathon goals though. I have no regrets with that at all.
I think I made this decision while I was running Sunday, but this week I officially changed my marathon entry for Cleveland to the half marathon. Much more on that in a future post.
Want to talk speed? How about these Shamrock 8k leaders ...
Need for speed
I know I haven’t talked about individual workouts too much here, but a quick look at my dailymile workouts are revealing – while I’m a good 20 seconds faster per mile on regular runs than a year ago, I have once again fallen into a trap of one speed all the time.
I have to push myself more. For the first time in nearly 5 years, I will be hitting the track soon. I’ve used the inconvenient 10-minute drive to my local high school as an excuse for too long.
There are 8 weeks until Cleveland, which is plenty of time to get a few quality track workouts in. If I’m going to run sub 1:40 in a half marathon soon, I need to know what that speed really feels like.
Continue the core
There’s no question that push-ups and other core work have helped me tremendously in recent months. This will continue.
Where’s the bike?
I will dust off my bike. Remember this post about getting a bike helmet? Yeah, I still haven’t hit the road with my bike yet.
Get in my belly
I need to continue to eat better. I’ve set the wheels in motion this year with eating better and getting back to better portion control.
I still need some work with that, and over the next several weeks I want to lose a few more pounds and get to Cleveland feeling even better than I do now.
For help, I have downloaded the myfitnesspal app for my iPhone. I need to see where I am screwing up in the eating department and will use this as a tool to continue to improve.
Advice No. 1: Have fun
“Have fun” is my go-to final words for other runners. While I thoroughly enjoyed Shamrock and all its surrounding festivities, somewhere along the way I started taking the race too seriously.
While I have laid out some things in this post that will make me focus even more, I am doing a couple of races soon in which I’m not pressuring myself to PR. In fact, I couldn’t PR in them if I tried.
I’ll talk about that more in a later post, but I need these events to get back to the true fun part of doing a race. I did that several months ago with my series of 5ks, but I have drifted a bit from my main reason of running.
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It’s funny how my best race of my life has made me feel this week. I have this feeling of having some potential for some great things yet to come, and for the first time in a while I know what I really need to do. …
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
That makes sense… Most people do a 1/2 marathon in the middle of their marathon training more as a training run, not actually race it. You went all backwards. Good job.
Is it possible to run to the local track as a warm up? Or, bike there?
I think I saw a tweet earlier that you're not running today, so, um, maybe it's a good day to hop on the bike!
Unfortunately, my high school is on kind of a busy road — not ideal to bike to at all. I knew going into all this training that I was going all-out for Shamrock. The roads at the race really trashed my legs and there was just no way I could bounce back this week like I should for marathon training. As far as today goes, it's a rainy, stormy, dreary day. No biking.
I think you are getting wise(r), runner.
Funny that I got so focused, right? I need an in between approach of my focused post and your unfocused post. And perhaps a brat on race week.
David, this was a very insightful post. I too have run a half marathon as a training run for my first marathon, and when I tried and achieved a PR, I didn't consider the consequences of having to take a little longer to recover and not getting as many miles in that week. Sometimes we have to choose our battles to get to our goals. I'm glad you got clarity from the Shamrock… It seemed to be that kind of race for many of the people I've talked to who ran it, myself included. Thanks for sharing your advice! Have fun is definitely my favorite- I love that runners can get away with wearing anything we want to to run in! Good luck in Cincinnati- you've got this! And by the way, don't fall on your face!
I've never been a big fan of signing up for two “A” goal races close to each other. Definitely one of the biggest lessons I have ever learned.
Nice post to read!! Happy that things seem clear and something tells me that you are going to do really great in Cleveland at the half. I'm trying to focus more on my diet as well b/c I have learned two things so far this year…you can NOT exercise away a bad diet and what you put in is what you get out. I HAVE to eat better. My fitness pal is a GREAT website/app. I have used 3 or 4 fitness/eating logs in the past and this one is by far my favorite. Very user friendly and their database of foods is fantastic!!
Thanks for sharing this! It really is neat when other people share what they are going through and where their heads! I think sometimes it helps someone else who doesn't even realize that they are in the same place really evaluate! With your head and running it's always a good idea to evaluate where you are, what your goals are, how you are pursuing them and what needs to change! Have fun is definitely a key ingredient to running especially since most of us started running for that reason!
You're making some very interesting changes to your race/training plans for the coming months. Will Cleveland still be an A race for you, where you try to break 1:40? (I don't know anything about how challenging the course might be.) Between the speed work, dietary changes and adding some biking miles, I think you'll see some good improvement in your running this spring.
From what I've seen on the map the course has some hills, but that should fit me pretty well. Right now the plan is to go for sub 1:40, but it's not an “official” goal just yet. I kind of need a mental break of having goals and just do some things for fun for a few weeks.
I'm planning on running the Cleveland half or full. It all depends on how my race goes next week. As far as the Cleveland course, it is pretty flat. I have ran the full 3 times and the half 2 times. I would be glad to answer any questions you may have about the course or city! Best of luck with training!
Good to hear. Hope we can meet up that weekend!Sent from my iPhone