Annual Running Breakdown AKA Running is Hard

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 11:58:00 -0500

Today was my annual running breakdown. I pushed my Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday workouts back one day each meaning today and tomorrow make it 5 day straight without rest. I woke up at 6am and fought the idea of running for 15 minutes before heading out. As soon as I started running I felt dreadful - dead legs and no enthusiasm at all. Usually this passes after a mile or so but today was different and a classic sign of over-training. I hit the lakefront (here in Chicago) at around 1.5 miles in and found some inspiration when I saw the sun hanging low, bright orange over the lake as it began it's hike across the sky. The usual path was too familiar so I decided to try to distract myself and took a detour along Montrose beach past the bird sanctuary all the way to the end of the pier at Montrose Point. The scenery was just perfect as the low sun lit up the buildings along the lake front and the trees at the edge of the beach. As I turned around I saw what has to be the most perfect view of downtown Chicago as the sun worked it's magic reflecting off the tall skyscrapers. The route is here "Scenic 8 miler". I reached my 4 mile mark according to my Garmin so turned around and headed back home. Instantly my mood dipped again and as soon as I hit the familiar part of my route I switched back to grumbling and complaining to myself about how hard this all is and how little fun I was having. Running the 1.5 miles along Foster Avenue back to the apartment was tough. The traffic, the traffic lights, the pedestrians, everyone was a target for my mental grumbling. It was only in the last half mile that it dawned on me - I've run around 450 miles since June so it's no wonder I'm tired! I got back and told my wife about my little breakdown and she reminded me it was this time last year at the same stage in my training that I hit the same breakdown. The spring vanishes from my step as I get one week out from the peak week of training and the visions of running through the fall and winter to hit another marathon or two disappear in negative thoughts. I looked at my logs for the 14 weeks of marathon training and got the confirmation about what I've achieved so far. I've logged 439.79 miles in 14 weeks. At a 9:14 average that's 67.6 hours of running and, for my weight, around 68,000 calories. For some perspective that translates to around 19 pounds! I've climbed over 24,000 feet based on elevation change and lost 14 pounds! If you don't keep a diary of your training, I recommend you start. Be it in a spreadsheet, a log book, online or even sending yourself emails it's a crucial training tool to remind yourself of your accomplishments from time to time. Days like today come and go and you're not alone - it happens to every runner who follows a challenging training program. It felt awesome to tell the clerk at the Drivers License renewal facility I'm 14 pounds lighter than my last license and when she said "you're turning 35? You don't look that old" I nearly kissed her. Running is hard but it's rewarding and worth every minute.

Making the marathon taper work for you

Thu, 03 Sep 2009 11:45:00 -0500

Marathon training programs typically come in a one size fits all prescription so what do you when your needs change? What if your race is postponed or you get sick in the final weeks? Adam's wife shares some tips for she found to help with her situation. The most difficult of marathon training, for me, is fitting in the training schedule to everyday life. Work, travel, and family can derail the best intentions of a marathon program - not to mention those friends who just don't understand why you'd choose not to go out on a Friday night because you have to get up and run 16 miles the next morning. This summer I've been training for my second marathon. After doing the Chicago Marathon last year in my hometown and having a really great race, I decided to try my hand at the Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco. Part of the challenge this year is adjusting my training schedule from an 18 week program to a 19 week program. I'm following Hal Higdon's Novice 1 18-week program again since I had success with it last year. However, I decided to start 19 weeks before the Nike marathon in order to coincide my training with the Chicago marathon training schedule. My reasons were two-fold: First, I really wanted to do the CARA Ready-to-Run 20 miler which is a great sponsored long run along Chicago's lake front path geared towards those training for Chicago. I did this last year and I found it really helpful to be doing my longest run with so many other people (especially since most of my training runs I run alone). Second, since Adam would be doing Chicago again and I knew we'd have a few weekends out of town this summer, it kept us on a similar schedule so that we could do those out-of-town long runs together. Since training is coming to a peak and the race is drawing closer I started to get nervous about my taper. Because of when the 20 miler fits into the schedule, I knew I would have to add an extra taper week at the end and wasn't too concerned about it....until the last few days. What should I run for that extra week? Should I add in an extra long run? Increase weekly mileage overall? Is it a terrible idea to do a four week taper? I found one option in Hal Higdon's "Alternate Marathon Programs." He gives options for what to do when you find yourself with one, two or three extra weeks at the end of marathon training. For my situation, he suggests repeating the 17th week of training (weekly runs of 4mi, 6mi, 3mi with a Saturday 8 mi "long run"). I've been debating adding another week that ends with a 14 or 16 miler but Hal reassures that his program will not jeopardize my fitness (a concern of mine). Come marathon day, I'm sure I'll be ok whatever I decide to do. I really believe that most of my training is dependent on getting myself in the right mindset. As long as I think I'll be fine, I will be. I'm curious though, what are your experiences with unorthodox marathon tapering?

WalkBlogRun - Marathon Training

Annual Running Breakdown AKA Running is Hard

Making the marathon taper work for you