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.

Workout Wednesday - Body Blaster Tabata

Happy Hump Day! I wanted to thank everyone for their comments on yesterday's post: Be Kinder to Your Body. Calories are Not the Enemy . It sounds like it resonated with many of you. Today I wanted to share a new workout with you. I've been working on interval workouts for some of my clients. I try to give them the most bang for their buck (time). I know that in an ideal world, we would all have time to do longer workouts. There would never be scheduling conflicts, sick husbands or kids, or sick us. In reality, workouts need to be effective and efficient. And they don't have to be lengthy to be effective and efficient either. There's no need to spend hours in a gym to get in a good workout. Interval workouts like HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training) or tabata, or even interval running are great ways to get in a fantastic workout in a short amount of time and have many benefits. You can read more about Tabata workouts  here . The benefits of this type of work

Piriformis Update & Grilled Veggie Salad

New Piriformis Exercises Today wasn't too terrible for a Monday. Of course, I did leave a little early. That always helps huh ;-) I had another round of physical therapy today. My PT has been really researching piriformis syndrome and found an interesting article that discusses the use of McKenzie Exercises - typically used for back pain. I have started adding in low back extensions (one of the exercises) but now have a whole new list of exercises to add into my workout rotations. But, if it helps, I'll do it. I also asked her about dry needling (thanks Sarena ), which is sort of similar to acupuncture, but is more about trigger point and intramuscular stimulation. And I'm glad I asked because the timing is uncanny. One of the doctor's in the clinic happens to be going to get certified this weekend. They both believe that I am a prime candidate for the procedure. So we'll see how that goes. Kind of scared because I hate hate hate needles. Have any of you tr