Friday, March 26, 2010

What I would do differently... ("I want" rant, part 2)

This is a preliminary type thing- a retrospect of this season's training.  The double Jack Daniel's(') has been fun, and though obvious I'm the only one I know who has done it, so whatever.

My first thought is- I want more miles.  70 per week is a lot, but I want more.  I think it would be helpful to my running.  And I think my body can take it.  Everything going well, next time I do something like this I'll have more weekly milage. This wasn't a fault of the program so much as when I put it together it seemed like a good number at the time. I know, a reprise, but it's an important theme.

I want more progression runs, which I define this way:  Start off with a couple of miles of warm up.  Do five miles at 15 seconds slower than marathon pace.  Five more miles at marathon pace.  End with five miles at 15 seconds faster than marathon pace.  do a couple of miles of cool down.

See if you can choose a hilly route, too.  Just to make it fun.  :)

I want more speed work.  There was a decent amount in the program, but I had in my heart of hearts a bit more desire to do 400s and 600s and 800s.  I wanted to spend more time on the track, even though that wasn't really a possibility during the winter.

I want more marathon pace runs.  I think I only had four or so on the schedule for this training cycle, and that just doesn't seem enough.  I decided to throw a mile in at marathon pace for my run today, to see how natural it is, and was almost completely unsuccessful at holding an 8:00 pace.  I held 7:45 for about a half mile and then slowed down to 8:10, which left me with an average of about 7:55- not bad, but not what I wanted.  I needed consistency, and I don't have it.

I want to fix this shin thing.  Occasionally, I feel like I hit a stride which is vastly different from any stride I've had before- all fore foot, using my calves both for shock absorption and propulsion, hard work but fairly smooth.  it takes a lot out of me.  I usually hit this stride when my shin is killing me because of the herniation thing.  I wonder if this is the way I should be running, or is it a gait flaw which will eventually do a lot more damage than pain it avoids?

I think I want to serious work on lowering my body weight.  I was running really well at 165, and I'm wondering if I could possibly do better, and be less hurt, if I were to lose a good five- or even ten- pounds.  Yeah, I did look pretty gaunt at the time.  Oh well, I'll deal.

I think... perhaps I'll sign up for a marathon in the fall.  I know bunches of people are talking about Columbus, and Grand Rapids has a certain appeal.  Of course, if this shin thing doesn't go away, maybe I'll just stick to trails.  That might be the way to go.

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