Turning Weaknesses

Every runner (and person) has their set of weaknesses. The thing about personality weaknesses, however, is that they're very difficult to change.

Running weaknesses are ALSO very difficult to change, but because they are physical, appear more easily dealt with. All you have to do to change yourself is take a mental note not to do / to do X thing. You can even write it down if you don't trust yourself. It's just a matter of habituation.

Running is similar, plus a boatload of pain. That kinda sucks. Kinda.

I used to be HORRIBLE at LSD's. By that, I mean I would have a huge struggle running anything over an hour. Now, it's a breeze. And it only took a full year! Yay....

My next step is Tempo runs. For some reason, I just have a very hard time dealing with these. The bad thing is that to get good at Tempo runs I have to.....well, DO them. A lot. And I severely dislike them. Nothing too appealing to me about trying to hammer 20-30min @ well sub 5:30 pace by myself on hilly roads.

Last week I tried and got to 15min before I vomited everywhere, and then I STILL had another 4miles to go before I was done, which I jogged @ 7ish min pace, feeling sorry for myself. Sounds great, right?

The GOOD thing about Tempo runs is that they are arguably the MOST useful tool in making someone faster, aside from simply a high mileage base. Getting good at Tempo runs essentially means you have gotten good at making the uncomfortable comfortable. It pushes the upper limit of how long you can hold a sub-maximal pace.

I can run ~4:20 mile. How long can I hold 4:30 pace? 5:00 pace? 5:30? Even though those 3 only vary by 30sec/mile, the answers are probably somewhere around 2000m (1.25miles), 4000m (2.5miles), and 9000m (5.6ishmiles).

What tempo runs do is SEVERELY affect those distances. A month or two of Tempo runs may add 1000m to that middle number, which any runner will tell you is a HUGE deal. Turning weaknesses.

I've written about fixing weaknesses before, and this is mine. Blessing in that fixing it will make me a WHOLE lot faster, curse in that there's only one, pain-filled way to go about solving it.

I'll try to remember the blessing side of it as I head out the door in 20min to try my luck again.

Oh, and I will know there is a God when it stops raining.

The Summer Grind

A couple reasons I haven't updates this blog - 1) I forgot my password, and 2) I wasn't really sure where I was going to go with it once track season ended.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy cross country. But I LOVE track. There are so many variables in cross country. Track is pure. There are no variables. Anything you do or do not do is the fault and success of you and you alone.

Obviously, again, it's similar in cross country. But is it really your fault if you have a bad race because you get slammed into a pole, or a branch takes your legs out, or the mud takes your shoes away?

I'm not sure, but I don't like any of those things.

But it doesn't matter! Because this is summer. At being both a collegiate....person and runner in summer means a few things. A) Run. A lot. B) Get a job. C) Have fun in nice weather.

Now, this make seem familiar to school, with the altering of B slightly, but I assure you it is no-....

Okay, it is.

The difference in summer training is both good and bad. It takes less time to do, as you just go out and run from home most every day, but it also is a lot more volume, which is NOT easier to do.

This is going to be my breakdown of workouts at the peak of summer mileage wise:

Monday: Run to work - 9miles
After work: To field or track for speed work. 4-5 miles

Tuesday: Run to work - Tempo in middle (about 25min of 5:30-40 pace). Strength when I get there.

Wednesday: Run to work, but longer way - 11 miles. Strides when I get there, +1 mile

Thursday: Run to work, HARD. ~6min pace.

Friday: Run to work. After work, do a hill workout on my street. ~4miles.

Saturday: Easy 15miles.

Sunday: Easy 6-8

That's about 80 mpw. And that's at the conservative end of the spectrum. I may double difference days.

To the average runner, this seems reasonable. To the average person, they are saying prayers and clutching jesus-beads. Or whatever they're called.

The summer grind is no joke, it is how you develop the secret of your success during the season.

And as we all know, the secret is..

..that there is no secret.