Monadnock Regional Milers

I have recently been bitten by the injury/illness bug. Coming into the end of the school year I’ve run myself a bit ragged, having the State Championships, a four day white water canoe trip, and graduation week (I am the senior class advisor) all within a seven day period. I found myself with a case of really bad allergies (which I don’t really have) that turned into a cold and fever that lasted on now for over a week. And prior to all this, I had some leg issues, some chest injury issues after the Tough Mudder, and gastrointestinal stuff that saw me more “off” than on with my running as of late.

My performance is slipping. I haven’t raced much, so you might ask how I know my performance isn’t where it should be? Through my training. I’ve been keeping a pretty consistent training log now since 2003. I can go back, see what I used to do for both training and racing, see how I felt and what I’ve run for times. And while much of the stuff I’ve been doing of late has held up time wise in comparison, there is a lot less of it. Just last night, in doing the Torture 1200 workout, while aiming for sub 20 minute 5K pace, I was only able to complete two reps, when I would normally complete 4 to 5.

But I was cooked. The last 500 meters were a struggle to maintain form and speed. My breathing was elevated as I feel my lung capacity is only around 75% due to this stinking cold. But even given that, my legs started burning on the last lap. I could have done more, but not at the goal pace I was shooting for.

Which leaves me with the question, What to do? I don’t really want to aim for slower goals. I don’t feel I’ve reached my post high school peak yet, so I still intend to concentrate on running faster. My base has slipped at this point below last year’s, and last year I could train like an animal. I ran the two highest mileage weeks I had ever done, 67 and 73.

With school over, I get a chance to recalibrate a little. The summer schedule should allow me some down time in which to get myself back on track. I’m hoping some consistency will do the trick.

But in addition to getting my physical being back in order, I also think one of the issues is lack of focus. At this time last year I knew I was going to run the Mount Desert Island marathon and had already set my schedule up to get ready to run it. I’m choosing not to run it this year, it’s logistically very difficult during the fall cross country season and with the Boston qualifying standard becoming even tougher, if I intend to chase it, it’s not happening at MDI.

So my mind has been working on what is the challenge this year. Do I plan for a fall marathon? Do I forget about qualifying for Boston, (as I think it will take running at least ten minutes faster than the standard to get in), and find some other pretty big goal to go after. I’m leaning towards Rocktoberfest in early October, either the half or the full marathon, but just haven’t decided is that the main goal.I want to think it is, so I can mentally get invested in a “real” training goal and give chase to a time.

I’m hoping, and I believe that, once I’ve given myself a specific goal, something to point towards, the training will more readily fall into place. I’ve seen this happen not only with my own training but also with my athletes. Often they come into the season without specific goals (in order to not put pressure on themselves) but when we develop a goal for them, they come around to meet the challenge of that goal.

It’s important to have goals, that’s what spurs you in the right direction in training. At the track when I mention that the focus of my track workouts is to improve one’s 5K time often I hear either someone doesn’t have a goal time or hasn’t run 5K in so long they have no idea. While I’m sure this is often true, focusing in on where you want your performance to go is really the only way to get it there. So I’m officially giving myself a kick in the pants, and symbolically the same to the rest of you who haven’t made the commitment either to do just that. Develop a goal, give ourselves direction, and get out there this summer and go after it.

See you out there!