After a bit of soul-searching (sole-?) over the holidays, specifically after a couple of longish runs and some staring at training schedules, I've decided to target the Halifax Bluenose Half-Marathon as my next race rather than the Full. There are a couple of reasons for the decision.
The first is that about a year ago I picked up the FIRST running book and the training runs look challenging and I'd like to give it a try. Having read through it again and pored over the training programs I've determined that there is no way I'm ready for the first week of the marathon training program with my current level of fitness, but the half- seems doable. Hard, but doable. I would be in fine shape a few months from now, but not just yet.
Second, I could probably work myself into reasonable marathon shape using a five-day per week program such as the Running Room one I used to run in 2007, but I've been having a really hard time fitting in more than three or four runs a week recently and I don't know if that is going to change in the near future. The FIRST program has a couple of cross-training days in the schedule which are easy for me to fit in as I have my lovely WaterRower sitting in my basement and can easily point it toward the television for a half an hour in the evening after the kids are in bed. Five workouts a week is much simpler this way than trying to work around my wife's crazy work/class/symphony schedule and arranging for someone to be home with the kids while I run.
Finally, I've tested each of the major key runs in the FIRST program over the past couple of weeks, and while the training paces are challenging, they are fun. All I've ever really used in the past are the Running Room programs and while they have gotten me pretty far, I'd like to try something new just to shake things up. Besides, a new program gives me something else to geek about.
In any case, there is plenty of time later for marathons. After I've established a new half-marathon PB!
Update: It's done - I've just registered for the half. Now I'm officially committed.
Showing posts with label running. Show all posts
Showing posts with label running. Show all posts
Monday, January 5, 2009
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Avoiding the trap
My search for running goals hasn't really begun yet. I expect to just try to maintain consistent training for a couple of months, slowly building my mileage up. I guess for now, running in and of itself, without expectation, has to be good enough.
The question for now relates to how many runs a week to try and fit in. As I've been sort of idling my way back in, I'm working on only two or three right now, but that's because I'm trying to fit in two weightlifting sessions and a couple of rows. To get any more runs in, I'm obviously going to have to double up a bit - maybe row on weightlifting days. I seem to have hazy recollections of being most comfortable with four runs a week.
Working out and running early in the morning seems to work pretty well for me so far. It's been almost three weeks now that I've awoken to the 5:30 alarm and headed out the door to the gym or to run. The gym is pretty easy in the morning, there are lots of people and the social atmosphere is encouraging. The hard part is getting out to run - the roads are generally pretty empty, perfect for running, but I find I have to work to keep motivated in the dark. My MP3 player/FM radio helps on these runs - CBC first thing in the morning is a piece of normality for me, but it's still hard. Since my runs have been relatively short so far - 6 or 7 km max, they don't take very long, but if I decide to really work a program and have to start running intervals or 10 km or more on these runs, the time will dramatically increase.
Am I going to have to get up still earlier?
I am doing all of this other stuff to avoid the running trap. I fell into it three years ago when I blew my Achilles' tendon on a 30 km training run - running without proper cross-training is a recipe for injury and mental breakdown.
The injury bit is straightforward; the triathletes have it exactly right. (Although I still think they are mental.) After getting hurt a couple of years ago, I was forced to stop running for a couple of months. I found myself completely unprepared for the emotional effects of the immediate cessation of physical activity. Unsurprisingly, I gained weight, but what I wasn't ready for was how screwed up my sleep schedule got. I guess that I had been building up quite a lot of energy capacity from running, and with nothing to expend it on, I began having trouble getting to sleep at night, which lead to grouchy days and the spiral to total bastard was very quick indeed.
The trap.
Avoiding the trap is so easy that I was a complete idiot for falling in it in the first place. Cross-train. Cross-training with intent not only lets me balance muscle and connective tissue development, but it also gives me a physical outlet that might be able to take the place of running when an injury prevents it. It also gives me other chances to build up core muscle strength that can prevent injury to my back, which is always (ahem) at the back of my mind. Wonky back days trumps everything, so keeping it strong is job #1. I can row til I drop even when my knee feels a bit off. I can lift weights anytime, I just have to be careful with the injury.
The question for now relates to how many runs a week to try and fit in. As I've been sort of idling my way back in, I'm working on only two or three right now, but that's because I'm trying to fit in two weightlifting sessions and a couple of rows. To get any more runs in, I'm obviously going to have to double up a bit - maybe row on weightlifting days. I seem to have hazy recollections of being most comfortable with four runs a week.
Working out and running early in the morning seems to work pretty well for me so far. It's been almost three weeks now that I've awoken to the 5:30 alarm and headed out the door to the gym or to run. The gym is pretty easy in the morning, there are lots of people and the social atmosphere is encouraging. The hard part is getting out to run - the roads are generally pretty empty, perfect for running, but I find I have to work to keep motivated in the dark. My MP3 player/FM radio helps on these runs - CBC first thing in the morning is a piece of normality for me, but it's still hard. Since my runs have been relatively short so far - 6 or 7 km max, they don't take very long, but if I decide to really work a program and have to start running intervals or 10 km or more on these runs, the time will dramatically increase.
Am I going to have to get up still earlier?
I am doing all of this other stuff to avoid the running trap. I fell into it three years ago when I blew my Achilles' tendon on a 30 km training run - running without proper cross-training is a recipe for injury and mental breakdown.
The injury bit is straightforward; the triathletes have it exactly right. (Although I still think they are mental.) After getting hurt a couple of years ago, I was forced to stop running for a couple of months. I found myself completely unprepared for the emotional effects of the immediate cessation of physical activity. Unsurprisingly, I gained weight, but what I wasn't ready for was how screwed up my sleep schedule got. I guess that I had been building up quite a lot of energy capacity from running, and with nothing to expend it on, I began having trouble getting to sleep at night, which lead to grouchy days and the spiral to total bastard was very quick indeed.
The trap.
Avoiding the trap is so easy that I was a complete idiot for falling in it in the first place. Cross-train. Cross-training with intent not only lets me balance muscle and connective tissue development, but it also gives me a physical outlet that might be able to take the place of running when an injury prevents it. It also gives me other chances to build up core muscle strength that can prevent injury to my back, which is always (ahem) at the back of my mind. Wonky back days trumps everything, so keeping it strong is job #1. I can row til I drop even when my knee feels a bit off. I can lift weights anytime, I just have to be careful with the injury.
The key with cross-training for me seems to be to not consider it secondary to the running, to put it on an equal footing. That doesn't necessarily mean to have as many cross-training days as running days, there just aren't enough in the week. It just means keeping it important, log it just as I do my runs, and above all, not to feel ripped off if I get hurt and can't run - make up for it with additional cross-training sessions as recuperation allows.
At some point in time, I promise to start swimming. I have promised this for a while now, but I will, I just don't know when.Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Semi-public embarrassment or the threat thereof
That's the reason for the blog, ultimately - partly as a "training" log, partly to clarify my own goals, and partly to act as motivation through the threat of embarrassment when I slack off.
I'm like many, my running goes pretty well when I'm actually doing it; I motivate quite easily to get out the door at 5:30 AM on cold winter mornings when I'm into it, but when my motivation flags, when my roll stops, it can stop hard. For instance, I ran the Bluenose marathon in 2007 and then almost immediately after went to sea for three months on board a vessel with no training facilities. On returning home, I couldn't get started up again. In the following year and a half, I started training twice, and only now, fully twenty months later, can I really say I'm back at it. When I look back, even in the training leading up to the Bluenose, my first marathon, I wasn't really into it like I want to be.
The fact is, I want to obsess about running. I want to think about my runs when I'm doing them and when I'm not. I want to look at my Garmin records over and over and compare my heart rates from one run to the next. I want to log my runs in Google Earth. I want to run when the weather is great and when it sucks. I want to read books about running and read magazine reviews about books about running. I want to be one of those idiots you see in the Halifax sleet in January on the side of the road, grimacing and splashing. I'm hoping this space will help me obsess.
That said, my goals for now are just to continue training through the winter to keep my fitness and spirits up. Running makes me a better partner, father, person, and those really are the improvements I'm looking for.
I'm like many, my running goes pretty well when I'm actually doing it; I motivate quite easily to get out the door at 5:30 AM on cold winter mornings when I'm into it, but when my motivation flags, when my roll stops, it can stop hard. For instance, I ran the Bluenose marathon in 2007 and then almost immediately after went to sea for three months on board a vessel with no training facilities. On returning home, I couldn't get started up again. In the following year and a half, I started training twice, and only now, fully twenty months later, can I really say I'm back at it. When I look back, even in the training leading up to the Bluenose, my first marathon, I wasn't really into it like I want to be.
The fact is, I want to obsess about running. I want to think about my runs when I'm doing them and when I'm not. I want to look at my Garmin records over and over and compare my heart rates from one run to the next. I want to log my runs in Google Earth. I want to run when the weather is great and when it sucks. I want to read books about running and read magazine reviews about books about running. I want to be one of those idiots you see in the Halifax sleet in January on the side of the road, grimacing and splashing. I'm hoping this space will help me obsess.
That said, my goals for now are just to continue training through the winter to keep my fitness and spirits up. Running makes me a better partner, father, person, and those really are the improvements I'm looking for.
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