Training Plan Thoughts/What’s Next
Two months ago I ran the Fred Lebow Half Marathon and got a personal worst time.
This week I ran the United Airlines NYC Half with a personal best time.
So, what was the difference? There were a few differences (including very different courses), but I think the biggest factor was probably my
@DopeyBadger plan.
I had always been a “run however I want” type of person, but having someone help me understand the principles of training effectively was really a game changer. (Although I apparently don’t understand things as well as I thought, since I tried to introduce a new type of workout to my new plan and did it all wrong … but I’m getting there)
I’ve already
shared my testimonial, but I wanted to go a little deeper into my thoughts on the plan:
Paces – The easy paces took some adjustment, but I did eventually get the hang of them. HM Tempo was probably my hardest adjustment, and I never really got used to it. I think 10K pace was my favorite pace … I really enjoyed pushing and seeing how fast it made me!
Pace vs. Effort – One of the things that I was very hesitant about with this plan was the emphasis of hitting certain paces, which is not something I’ve focused on much before. I realized very early in the plan that the paces are not at all important. I prefer to run by effort, and that’s what I did on this plan. The paces were just a guideline for whether or not my effort was what it should be. If I think I’m running at easy effort but my pace is a minute too fast, then I need to figure out if the pace is that wrong or if I’m assessing my effort wrong. Same with faster paces – am I putting in the right amount of effort that corresponds to the pace I’m looking for? I found that when I focused on effort rather than pace it made the runs less stressful, and most of the time I wasn’t that far off pace.
Distribution of Miles – Previously, I had always done long long runs on Sundays and shorter mid-week runs. I was still doing that on this plan … but the long runs were shorter and there were more miles mid-week. I thought it would be a tough adjustment for me, but it really wasn’t. I need to get better at actually waking up on Sundays (it’s easier to get out of the house before 7 if I know that I have 2.5 hours of running ahead of me), but once I do that, I think I will appreciate the (sometimes) shorter Sunday runs. (I do miss my 5 mile/1 hour Sundays a bit, but the 7 miles isn’t the worst)
Overall - Honestly, it went better than I expected. I even got used to drinking chocolate milk after some of my runs. I was definitely skeptical going in, but it turned out to be a great plan and a great training philosophy for me.
What's Next:
My next race is the Run As One 4M on April 22nd. Goal is continuous running, preferably at a pace around 11:00 or below. Coach and I are still ironing out the details of the plan (I'm designing it with his input - we're almost there, I just need to fix a few workouts where I was trying to create a bad habit). While I'm training for that race, I have to figure out what my next "A" race will be - I have three candidates, so I have to figure out the merits and detriments of each.
My next journal update will probably be a #buyallthethings update ... I currently have 5 different new sports bras hanging around my room (spoiler alert: some of them are getting sent back to
Amazon/Zappos)
One Last Note:
aka #BuyAllTheThings: Shoe Edition
Even though the NB 880v8 is not yet in stores, it is available online. I'm waiting to buy it in store, since it's a new version and I want to make sure it's still comfortable (also, after Sunday's race, I'm thinking I may need to stop being stubborn and size up), but I did look at the colors online. Since I'm buying it from a New Balance store (I go to the NB RunHub at NYRR RUNCENTER, so I get the NB expertise (and rewards program...) + runner-centric store - best of both worlds), I think I should be able to get whatever color I want. Here are the two I'm most interested in - would love to see what other people like! (Sorry about the extra large images, but I just yanked them from the NB website)
Blue Iris with Pigment:
Guava with Vintage Indigo:
Thoughts?