Anxiety Over Goal Times

As the Sioux Falls half got closer, I started to get really panicky regarding my marathon goal time. It was still 6+ weeks out from marathon day, but since Sioux Falls was a goal paced run, I felt like I needed to have things for TCM finalized, to have a successful pace run. I started over-analyzing everything. I can't run sub 4, I shouldn't try to run sub 4. I should just try to run PR pace. If I attempt sub 4/sub 2 pace at Sioux Falls than everyone will know my goal, and it'll suck if I fail.

I texted Toni that I thought I should change my goal to 4:02-4:05. I had ran a bunch of different pacing strategies, and that's where I ended up each time. She responded that we'll run sub 4 if she has to throw me over her shoulder and carry me across the line. And she's strong enough. And fast enough. She would!

Somewhere during this downward spiral of doubt, I made myself stop. And think about all I *had* done.

I haven't missed a long run this training cycle.

I haven't missed a single run this training cycle.

I have stayed healthy.

I've stayed diligent with my strength training, and massage, and foam rolling.

I figured out my electrolyte issues, easing recovery and muscle soreness, allowing me to add miles more easily and lift heavier weights at POWER.

I ran my highest consecutive mileage weeks ever.

I ran my highest monthly mileage ever.

There is not one thing I've set out to do this training cycle that I haven't done.

I am as prepared as I can be to run 26.2 miles this fall. Whatever the time on the clock ends up being is representative of all the hard work, physically and mentally that I have put in over the past 2 years. And I will be proud of that time no matter what.

In past years I've set goals and have been so upset when I haven't hit those goals, but if I'm being honest with myself, many of those races I wasn't as prepared as I could've been. This go around, I can truly trust in the training and let me legs lead the way. Hopefully my mind stays just as strong when the miles get tough.

Reflecting on the Training Cycle

Leading up to the Brookings half marathon, I really thought our training cycle had been an A+. When I was weeks from the Twin Cities 10 mile, I started doing some comparisons of that cycle vs this one to get my brain to that place mentally to prove I could hit my goal times. I was astounded to see so many missed runs, especially early on in training. Essentially I did an 8 week base building schedule followed by a 12 week training plan, so it makes sense that some runs would be missed over a 5 month span :P but still. The 4-5 weeks leading up to Brookings were stellar so maybe that's where the skewed perception came from.

From January to race day in Brookings, I ran about 359 miles. In those miles, I ran 7 long runs (10+ miles consecutively), including 2 half marathon races. One raced, one done as a long run. I had three 20-24 mileage weeks, three 25-29 mileage weeks, and two 30-34 mile weeks. In these weeks I averaged 18.73 miles/week. I ran just over 100 miles during the month of April with 104 miles, otherwise my monthly mileage ranged from 41-90. I averaged 77 miles/month.

Our TC10 training started mid-July. From July until race day, I ran about 378 miles. Slightly more mileage, but in 2.5 months less time! I ran 11 long runs (including 8 milers as our plan had us starting with 8's for a ten mile training cycle). Additionally I ran another 8 runs of 8-10 miles for mid-week distances, for 19 long runs over that period of time! I had five 20-24 mile weeks, one 25-29 mile weeks, four 30-34 mile weeks, two 35-39 mile weeks, and one 40+ week. I averaged almost 32 miles/week.
I ran over 100 miles for July, August, and September ranging from 112-141 miles for those hot and sweaty months. Barf. I averaged 125.68 miles per month.

	Brookings	TC10
20-24/week	3	6
25-29/week	3	1
30-34/week	2	4
35-39/week	0	2
40+/week	0	1

Leading up to the half in Massachusetts in November, I didn't really follow a plan; I raced a lot of 3 miles and a 5k, so there was a lot of speed work, and just one long run of 11 miles. Despite not really training specifically for the half marathon distance, and just getting in miles, I still ran 10 seconds per mile faster than I did for the Brookings race in May.

Looking back at these training cycles, it's clear that the more mileage I do, on as consistent basis as possible is what sets me up best for success on race day. One of my big goals for 2018 is to not skip long runs! It's the one run a week that I can find 100 excuses for. But as 2017 was wrapping up, I really found myself looking forward to them. Perhaps I'm turning over a new leaf. Stay tuned!

Things I Learned this Training Cycle

This past training cycle was the first I've taken seriously since training for the Bemidji Marathon in 2014. I've created many training programs between now and then, but haven't bothered to follow them, and/or the act of creating one was fun and satisfied the itch of thinking about training for something, and then opting not to.

I wanted to take a minute to reflect back on this training cycle to jot down some things that I learned over the past 12 (or 20, if you include the base building session) week training cycle.

1. Running buddies are the best. This is the first training cycle where I have embraced running with friends. I've always been a solo runner. Even when I started with the running group, I was the slow one who brought up the rear on my own. When I met Toni last summer, she was a LOT faster than me. She wanted to be my running buddy, but I didn't want to slow her down. After explaining to her just how slow I was for weeks and weeks, I finally agreed to run with her. Fully expecting her to ditch me as a running buddy after she realized just how slow I was running. But she didn't! She needed a buddy to get her out the door, and I just needed a buddy. The rest is history. From our running friendship, others were born. I met other runners near my pace, and did many long runs with a small group of ladies. If I wasn't feeling up for a run, I would reach out to someone to run with me to help hold me accountable. It made all the difference in the world.
2. Base building works. I love speed work. I love running fast, and I love getting faster. During periods I wasn't training, I would create a plan and only be excited about the speed sessions during the week. Most of the training programs I followed previously included some easy miles, one interval or tempo session a week and one long run. The training plan I followed this time spent a lot of time creating a base of long slow miles, building up to mid-30s before adding in any legit speed work. There were some runs with portions at lactate threshold to get the legs moving, but most of the specific speed work that we did on a track didn't start until 4 weeks out from race day. And shocker: I didn't get injured at all, because I spent the time building my base. Who would've thought?! Also my legs recovered very well from the speed sessions, and the long runs for that matter.
3. Mid-week long runs are my fave. Throughout training there would be 6 or 8 or 10 miles in the middle of the week. These would be at a general aerobic pace, again building up that endurance base (which is what I need as a runner with better faster running capabilities than endurance capabilities) and they were a blast. It felt so BA to be running 8-10 miles on a Monday or a Thursday throughout training. While there were a few long runs that got missed during this cycle for various reasons, I know these extra mini-long runs helped immensely.
4. I loved the half marathon specific speed workouts of this cycle. In past cycles, training programs have had mile repeats and 800 meter repeats. I hated the mile repeats (so hard) and loved the 800 meter repeats, but I'm learning that repeats at that speed don't translate as well to specific half marathon training. This cycle had us doing 1000m repeats at 3k-5k pace, some ladders of 1200, 800, 600 x 2, and other workouts that shook things up a bit. It was a welcomed  change. They always felt challenging but doable. And I left the track feeling incredibly strong after each workout.