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September 25, 2004
Making Wise Choices
One would think that since I am a college educated person who also has a graduate degree, that I would make good choices. I usually do, in my personal and professional life, I make the best choices that I can. One could argue that by keeping the job I currently have that I have not made a good decision, but I have been looking and it is not that easy to find guidance jobs in this area. When it comes to running, I tend to not think as much as I should. Maybe I think too much. Haven't quite figured that out yet. I always feel like I should be doing more and faster. Reading all of these blogs sometimes makes me think that I should be doing more, but I use my history to really decide what I should and should not be doing.
I have experimented some with higher mileage. I found that I couldn't maintain it, got sick all the time, and was always tired. I hadn't been really running for very long when I tried this, maybe 2 and a half years. I have gradually increased mileage so that the upper fifties to sixty per week feels good. I find that I can maintain this kind of mileage almost all year and still get two workouts per week without feeling too beat up. J has told me that my body will know when it is ready to do 2 runs a day. He says that when he was doing it he ran his best times, but it isn't for everyone to do all the time. He also knows that with my work schedule it will be very difficult for me to do. We've discussed that I probably shouldn't even try doubles until I think about a marathon again.
All of this has a point to today's run. I wanted to do 16 this morning. Yesterday I wasn't too sure if it would be a good idea. Thursday night made me think it probably was not a good idea. Doing track intervals, barely holding on, at only a few seconds faster than your everyday recovery pace is not a good sign for training. I finally looked up how I felt last year after PDR in my log. I was so relieved to see that it basically took me a full week to recover from it then too. The Saturday after it I only did about 10 miles. I also saw that my Thursday night workout had comments of "could not move any faster" and "could never get going".
This morning I got up early and the weather was great for running, clear and around 60. I still was not sure how far I was going to run. L wanted to run 19 and P wanted to do 90 minutes since he's tapering for Steamtown in two weeks. Everyone else was doing an hour. I decided that I would go for about 90 minutes with P. My right quad felt tight for the first 30 minutes or so, but then it started to loosen up. My ankle felt stiff for about the first hour, but now it feels fine. I don't know if the stuff I did at the gym helped it some or what. Anyhow, L, P, and I ran together. L wasn't too comfortable finishing the full out and back course on her own, so she stayed with us. We ran an out and back and turned around at about 49 minutes. This course is quite downhill on the way out and then has a series of long, steep hills for about 3 miles on the way back. We run this course to get ready for any race that has hills at the end. It is also very difficult to get lost on it since you pretty much stay on three roads the whole time. I guess that I picked up the pace some on the first in the series of hills. I'm not a particularly strong hill runner, but I try to maintain through the top of the hill (something I'll never forget hearing everyday in high school cross country practice) and P says that I really picked it up on the second of the hills and just kept on rolling. During the second half of the run I was feeling much more like myself. I ran the second half in just under 44 minutes and then ran around the parking lot until I'd been out for 1:35 just becuase I like round numbers. I felt like I could have gone on for another 3 miles, but I know that my body has not fully recovered yet and I have another week to get a long run in before my next real race. I'm not doing a marathon, so as far as I am concerned I don't really need to do many runs much over 90 minutes.
I couldn't get in the pool to run today since swim team is going on. My aqua running is going to decrease greatly now since there isn't much pool time available. I did lift and ride the stationary bike. I didn't lift last week and I could definitely feel that I was weaker than usual.
One of my friends is sponsoring a race tomorrow morning. I don't really want to race it, but I feel like I should go and run it to support him. He only expects to have about 65 people turn out, so I feel like I should go. I might do it but not race it. I really need to do my workout on Monday night, so I might run it just a few seconds faster per mile than my regular runs. I just hate doing races as training runs because some people around here think that any time a number is on them it is a full out race and then ask me why I ran slow. I absolutely hate that! Sometimes I do races for tempo runs, or even easy runs if I feel like the race is for a really good cause that I support. Just because I'm there does not mean that it is a race that I have "peaked" for. Sorry about the vent!!!
Posted by Blondie at September 25, 2004 11:48 AM
Comments
Sounds like you made the right choice for you on Friday-it's something we all need help with now and then!
Thanks for the encouragement about my "race," and good luck at yours--I know how it feels to have the "I'm not racing, it's just a training run" line ready.
Posted by: Jessie at September 25, 2004 09:50 PM