Photo from Mount Royal, Frisco, Colorado.

"That is happiness; to be disolved into something complete and great. When it comes to one, it comes as naturally as sleep." - Willa Cather

Wednesday 25 June 2008

Perhaps my training sucks

We are planning to run the Angel Island 50k on July 5th as part of our honeymoon adventure. Actually, SR decided yesterday to change to the 25k (because he doesn't want to beat up his legs for the rest of the summer and he wants to pace me at the end of my race). I am certain I'll be having the time of my life at another ultra.

But something that SR keeps reminding me of, is I don't know how to train. He says I'm robbing myself of speed by running so much (ie. I need to take days off between hard days and have days of tempo runs). Here's the pathetic training plan I've had for the past month:

Mon: run 11-12 miles with babyjogger
Tues: run 5-6 miles with babyjogger, swim 1 mile
Wed: run 11-12 miles with babyjogger
Thur: run 5-6 miles with babyjogger, swim 1 mile
Fri: run 11-12 miles with babyjogger
Sat: run 15-20+ miles alternating with and without babyjogger
Sun: run 5-6 miles with babyjogger, swim 1 mile

So, yes, I run a lot with the babyjogger and I can't run too fast with that thing. And I don't take days off. But who knows, maybe running constantly with a babyjogger is great training for an ultra. We will find out on July 5th, I guess. But, no matter how fast I go that day, SR will just say, "just think of how fast you could have gone if you had trained properly."

Today I will attempt to run fast with the babyjogger and see how it goes. Then we're driving to an Indian Reservation where SR has a job interview.

Running Song of the Day: Freeway by Aimee Mann (a favorite alto voice of mine since I was 16... this is a new song)

5 comments:

Danni said...

That seems like good mileage to me. Do you wear a heart rate monitor? They are very useful tools for monitoring recovery and fatigue IMHO. Plenty of people run every day, me excluded, and as long as you are able to recover and mix hard and easy runs you should be golden. I highly recommend "Heart Rate Monitor Training for the Compleat [sic] Idiot" -- ensuring that you alternate hard/easy efforts and recover before the next hard effort is helpful. Also, making the easy runs UBER easy tends to make you faster on the hard runs.

This is all in the "do as I say not as I do" pile :p

P.S. Good luck at your race! You're doing the 50k?

Allison Chapple said...

I agree that one can run everyday and still recover (I did this pre-preg). The catch is having purposeful runs. Not just running to run, but having planned speed days, easy days, long days, etc. Running the same pace day after day is not going to add up to any gains in speed. Like Dannit, I learned that running easy runs SUPER easy were the key to recovering while also keeping the mileage high. The HR monitor helped me a lot too - accountability to really keep the easy ones easy. That was frustrating at first because I was having to run so freaking slow, but it helped me become more efficient (and recover!). Good luck.

sea legs girl said...

Sounds like really good advice. Thanks to both of you. I do take it quite easy on the days I run less. I have to admit, though, I don't think I'll ever get into heart rate monitors. But maybe if I try one I'll be addicted.

Olga said...

Don't try HRM. I know I am going against official advice, but I see you the way I see myself. I used to wear it - for all of 2 months - and it robbed me off excitement. I think you run like I do, with ease and high senses, pushing when it comes and not when don't feel like it. While I believe in tempo runs (and even mile repeats), in your case you do those 5k's on TM, and that substitutes either. Babyjogger gives you extra workout - and I think it's great, because once you drop off this "weight", you'll fly
faster.
For my first 50k I didn't do any different training, it was 3 months after 1st marathon, and all I did was put on 2 long runs a month prior and did track with a group (just because). It was about having respect for the distance and fun the whole way.
I wish I could be around that weekend, but I won't even have internet access (CO). May be I'll shoot you my phone number by email.
You'll do great, believe me. There was a reason I told you that a while ago:)

H said...

I agree with SR that you'll run faster with a specific plan.

However, I can't say much because I HATE structured training and would rather go slow than steal the fun of running for me, so I never go by anything other than what I feel like... even when the quantity is more than it should be given what I'm training for and the times I'm getting.... *shrug* :)