Skip to main content

Thursday Thoughts - Sometimes Planning is Important

It's not uncommon for me to have a million things on my mind. Sometimes I can let that overwhelm me, other times I'm good about pushing some thoughts to the side to make room for others ;-)

Sometimes you just need to get them off your chest though. So here it goes, my Thursday Thoughts.

Sometimes Planning is Important (especially in marathon training)

Wednesday I decided to do some dedicated speed work. I sort of decided mid-run, but that's another thought. I did 4 easier miles then began 400s. My plan was to do 6 of them at a 6:30 pace.

After the 2nd one, I wanted to hurl. Like literally bending over trying not to barf. I quickly changed my strategy - 4 repeats would definitely suffice.

After the 4th interval and a recovery, I insanely ran up the bridge (close to a quarter of a mile) to take a sunrise picture. Dedication to beauty or insanity, I'll let you be the judge of that.

I was a little disheartened at my failed speedwork attempt to be honest. How could I not do 6 400s? I was ok with the pace, a little off one side or the other. But it was so freaking hard.

Now, in retrospect I had several things against me:
1. It was very warm and humid out. It was already mid-70s and heat and dew points were vying for first place, so it was just downright soupy.  
2. It wasn't properly planned. I didn't go slow enough at the start and did too many "warm up" miles. I started off at an 8:35, but should have slowed that down. After the intervals and not so slow trip home, I was at an 8:16 average.  
3. Another part of the ill planning was that I had done a fast 8-mile run the day before clocking in at an 8:04 overall average. So, basically, 2 days of faster running = dumb move. Again, poor planning.


Based on the trying training run, I realized that I have got to put myself on a much better, much more regulated marathon training plan. I've been sort of winging it for far too long. If I am going to make it through the marathon training in one piece, I'm going to have to be much smarter.

The thing that worries me is that I hate strict-ish plans. I know that they are beneficial and necessary. I know I can be flexible to an extent. But the previous times I've been on a true plan, I began to see running as a chore. I don't want that, but I also can't stupidly do back-to-back fast runs like I did Tuesday and Wednesday.

I have decided to not beat myself up over the run or the lack of smarts I displayed. Instead I'm going to take the opportunity to learn from this mistake and run smarter.

How are you with training plans? What is one of the dumbest training mistakes you've made?


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Love in Photos

In honor of Valentine's Day - Love in Photos Husband Family and Furbabies Friends Even if you're not a fan of Valentine's Day - I hope you have a wonderful day and remember the loves in your life.

Hump Day and More Pineapples

Full-Body Workout  I'll readily admit that getting up this morning was quite painful and almost didn't happen. I forced myself out of bed though not exactly excited about tackling a full-body Pyramid workout. Sort of daunting at 5 am really. I did the warm up from Shock Cardio Cardio Core Circuit (cardio only premix) then hit the weights. It was a pyramid up only so I increased my starting weight. I topped it all off with the first 2 1/2 drills from the cardio workout. I ran short on time and was basically spent. Squats into Plie Squats Step Ups (seriously hate these especially at 5:30 am) Incline Chest Flyes into Chest Press Pullovers into DB Underhand Rows Step Ups (freaking again) Static Lunges Overhead DB Press into Lateral Raises Deadlifts Kickbacks into Overhead Extensions Hammer Curls into Alternating Curls Calf Raises I am so excited to report that my new cross-trainers and running shoes arrived today. Can't wait to test both of them out. I waited way way way too

Hitting the Gym and Lazy Means Creative Tex-Mex Creation

Sunday, Gym Day Why do vacations and min-vacations go by so quickly? Just doesn't seem quite right. Anyway, we left Branson around 9:30 am to head back home. It was a pretty uneventful drive back, which is usually a good thing. We got home and unpacked, then I headed up to the gym. I started with a 10-minute treadmill run to warm up before hitting the weights for back and light legs then abs. I went with a giant set for back then supersets for legs. GS - 4x8 Underhand barbell rows Pullovers Double-arm rows SS#1 Rear-leg elevated lunges (Bulgarian Split Squats) - 3x8 Calf raises - 3x20 SS#2 - 2x8 Walking lunges Plie squats with low-end pulse Single-leg deadlifts - 2x8 I did some ab exercises, stretched, and called it quits. Lazy = Crazy Dinner I may have made it to the gym and washed a few loads of laundry, but I never made it to the grocery store - lounging in the pool trumped grocery shopping. This meant getting creative with dinner. We had another package