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?