Tweaking the training

So, it’s been a little over a week since the 10 mile race.  I had a couple of dejected days right after the race.  I was so cooked I cut a run short and then refused to run the next day because it felt like a chore.  Anyway, I made the conscious decision on Saturday, October 3rd that the 10 mile race showed me I needed one more adjustment to my training.  After the 10K, where my pace was 7:30 per mile, I made the deliberate choice to change my easy and long run pace from 8:24 per mile to 8:00.  This is an even further deviation from the training plan that had me running at 8:46, but I did it because I knew that if I could run 6.2 miles at 7:30 during a race, I needed to be training closer to that pace to help pick up my endurance at tempo.  This somewhat follows some reading I’d done that indicated endurance runners in the Olympics said they’d run more of their weekly mileage at marathon pace or faster as opposed to the old school theory of slow runs to get in form, psychology and avoid injury.  Anyway, the 10 mile race told me I needed to work on my kick as well.  So, when I started my run on Saturday, I decided that I’d do the last half mile in 7:30 split instead of 8:00.  Not significantly faster, but it’s my race pace and it allows me to work on a speed boost toward the end of the run.

The Saturday run was an affirmation really.  After feeling once again like running had become a chore instead of a passion, or a catharsis, I didn’t run one of my scheduled days.  I went mostly to prove to myself that it was still enjoyable.  It actually did feel comfortable at 8:00 per mile and so even after my 5 miles was done, I kept going.  I told myself I was going to get close to a full hour running, but in the end I decided I had nothing to prove.  I did my first attempt at a “kick” and managed to run the last half mile at the 7:30 pace.  I guess I’m going to try that for a bit now and see how it goes.  After this next week, I’ll probably see if I can extend it to the full mile.  Hard to say.  I wish I had the resources or the friends I could lean on for training advice, but instead I tinker.  Hard to tell if I’m doing more harm than good, but it also keeps me guessing and the training a bit more interesting.

Cheers!