Saturday, June 4, 2011

Learning from experience.

"There are some things you learn best in calm, and some in storm."  
Willa Cather

After registering for the marathon twice and running the half both times...I want to do things differently this time. The Montreal Marathon is on September 25th this year, that gives me 16 weeks to train for it. However, as mentioned in my last post, I do not plan on registering for this marathon until I have gone more than two months without an injury. Luckily, the Montreal Marathon is not one of those that fills up within days. If I don't feel ready, no stress, I can register for the half.

I'm also going to try a different type of training program, not that there's anything wrong with the one I was following but, it was 5 days a week which is too much for me. This time, I will run for a certain amount of time, instead of for a certain number of kilometers. I will continue to use the 10/1 ratio on long runs, because that works for me. Also, this program is 4 days a week, I'll probably do 3 most weeks, and cross-train on two other days, taking one day of full rest. 

The last two half-marathons I did, I was coming back from an injury and didn't have much mileage the 6 to 8 weeks leading up to race day. Yet, my time remained consistent across the 4 halfs I've done. Yes, I probably could have improved a bit, but it's not like I did worse than the both times I managed to train properly. I find that very interesting. Both times, I biked and did strength training to compensate and so I guess I was in pretty good shape. Still, I'm intrigued and I've learned an important lesson. Just do what feels right, don't push the mileage unnecessarily, which is why I'm switching to time instead of Ks...and I will listen to my body!

For example, today I ran 11K. The old program suggested 13K, but as I was running, I realized that I was still tired from my half last weekend and I decided to turn around early. Also, at one point I was feeling pressure under my middle toes. I was wearing my injinji's and the sock seemed to have bunched up. Normally, I would tough it out to avoid stopping during a long run, today, I stopped (twice) and fixed the sock...and then felt much better as I continued my run and avoided causing pain and possibly a silly injury.

This time, I will not put unnecessary pressure on myself, because I know for a fact that:
Even if I don't get every run in I'll be fine.
If I stop early sometimes, I'll be fine.
If I take bathroom or sock or shoe or clothes or fueling breaks, I'll be fine.
If I choose to cross-train some days instead of run, I'll be fine.
If I choose to do a bit more sometimes, I'll be fine.
This time, I hope to enjoy the process fully, trust my judgement and believe!

Thanks for your wonderful support and encouragement!
Cheers!

20 comments:

ajh said...

Why is Blogger being such a pain? I changed mine because someone told how in a post.

Glad you are being smart. I am so undecided about a fall marathon. I think I am leaning toward the half. For three reasons:
1. I don't know as I want to put that much time into training.
2. I do worry about injury.
3. I want to race as much as I can and marathon training interferes with that.
4. Oops one more - I want to have plenty of time for biking and maybe even another duathlon. Any up your way?

RunningFromCancer said...

It is so important to listen to your body. Running in a training program 5 days a week is tough. While I can run 5 or 6 days a week - the milage has to be low distance 2 - 3 miles at a time - otherwise I am exhausted.
Today was a great run for me - I slowed down to high five a group of young girls who were volunteering and stopped to give my former Pastor a hug. Didn't really have any effect on my time and I had a great time.
Hope you are having a great weekend.

Jennifer said...

I could learn from you! I second the shorter running week. Anything more than four days is usually too much for me. A new plan, how exciting!

Jennifer said...

P.S.- I was having the same issue! I just down loaded Google Chrome, easy and fas.t I use it mostly for Blogger and then use my regular browser for all my other stuff.

Claire said...

Sounds like a solid plan...and I have a feeling Anne..that this time is going to be different :)

Char said...

It gets to a time in everybody's life that you just can't run as many days in the week that you used to or want to. I had to accept that last year. I just needed more recovery days because my body took longer to recover. And a marathon is very doable on 4 days a week.

Detroit Runner(Jeff) said...

I registered for a half this fall already but can change to the full by Oct. 1. I figure either way I'm good. I can change if I feel I'm ready for another marathon. If I'm not, I can just do the half but have plenty of training it. Win-win. Good luck with your training.

Will Cooper said...

sounds like you're applying some wisdom learned from all you training. smart. good luck on your next two months avoiding injury. ps-I do at least 15% of my weekly miles on an elliptical, with more during recovery weeks. its the same aerobic benefit w/o the pounding of running.

Marlene said...

Good grief, Blogger is so frustrating lately. :(

Sounds like you have learned a lot about what works for you, and you have a great plan/attitude moving forward in this training cycle.

Here's to staying injury free!

Molly said...

okay, I'm going to download Google Chrome,didn't know about that one!

Thanks for voting for me on COM!!

What you wrote about trusting your judgement is key, I'm so excited for you! and btw, the 25th is my wedding anniversary!

Robin said...

Sounds like a good plan, all the best with the training.

Johann said...

This all looks very good indeed. You certainly have enough experience by now to trust yourself. I always do my own thing in training and use my own “program”. Most of my running is done according to how I feel.

Claire said...

J'ADORE ta nouvelle philosophie d'entraînement!!! C'est d'ailleurs (à peu de chose près) ce que j'ai décidé de faire pour moi-même!!! Est-ce que ça nous mènera au bout du 42,2e km??? On l'espère, mais si ça nous mène au demi, ben ça sera le demi... Mais d'ici là... we'll be fine!!!!!
(Depuis quelques temps, j'avais le même problème que toi pour commenter les blogs, mais j'utilise aussi Google Chrome depuis la semaine dernière et voilà, plus de problèmes!!!)

Teamarcia said...

Your training plan alterations sound wise! There's much to be said for listening to our bodies.
Aha a fellow ice queen! I knew I liked you extra much! :D

Gaspegirl said...

Sounds like a solid plan, for sure! I have been having problems commenting with blogger too... I will have to try google chrome now.

Make it a great day!

AM! said...

Hi;-)
I've been wanting to pop over and check in with all you're doing;-)

and sounds like you're doing a lot, and keeping a balance.

also, wanted to thank you for your comment on my prior few posts- especially the applying the physical to the emotional play ground- i thought of you actually afterwards w/your career background;-)

Happy Monday!

Giorgio said...

Excellent choice, Anne! If I feel tired I won't push kilimeters unnecessarily.

I hope you'll be injury-free and run every race you want :)

Emz said...

You. Are. Just. So. Freaking. Awesome.

I
Love
This.

Great goal. Great outlook.

And sorry - I'm sadly happy to know I'm not the only one who is having bad luck w/blogger. Ugggg.

Evolving Through Running said...

Anne - thanks for the comment on my blog today. Realized this morning while browsing other blogs that you had fallen off my blog radar. Somehow I missed your blog move. So nice to have your comments back, and have a chance to follow your running. Your approach sounds about as wise as they come. I'm slowly learning these same lessons. Applying them is even slower for me, but learning them is a start. Really like the "if I choose to cross-train some days instead of run, I'll be fine." Now that our pool is open for the summer I need to apply this lesson. Best of luck with all of your training. Rest assured I'll be cheering for you from afar.

Darlene said...

I have doing a half on Sept 25. There's a marathon that day also but not now for me, maybe someday or maybe never.