Last night when I reviewed my workout for today, I cringed.
Marathoners: 2 miles at marathon pace, 3×1 mile at half-marathon pace. NO FASTER
So… my running group is FAST. I may have mentioned that before 
When I run with them, I always run faster than my actual race paces. Already the marathoners were supposed to run slower than the rest of the group (they had the same workout, but were supposed to do HMP and 10K pace).. and then we had my sorry little goal pace.
Example of my standard training paces:
HMP: actual-7:09, training-6:45
10K: actual-6:40 (at sea level), training-6:20
5K: actual-6:30ish, training: 6:10
Today didn’t start well. I got to one of our 4 training spots, and 7:30 rolled around without the team showing up. I checked my email again and realized I was in the wrong spot! Since I was already dreading the workout, this further darkened my mood. If I hadn’t had plans to meet my coach afterwards, I would have bailed and driven home. But instead I went to meet everyone, and they were actually just heading out for their warmup as I got there! We always do a few miles for warmup and then stretch so I managed to catch up with everyone to get going. Still, it was a bit of a frazzled start.
Today when we lined up for the 2mile, the coach motioned for me to go with the folks planning on running 3:10 next week. I said “nooooo.. I’m doing 3:20 next week!” He looked shocked, then told me to go ahead and run with them (the groups were actually getting faster so I had to go). I started with them, but then dropped down to my target pace (7:38). It was slow and I felt miserable. We were running laps around a lake and when my coach caught up with me, he asked if I was ok. I said “yup.. this is marathon pace..”
I tried, really I did. But when the coach (the one who said “no faster than goal pace” encourages you to go harder (and you want to)..
My 2mile ended up being at a 7:26 pace, because I was trying to hold myself back. Then we were supposed to rest for 3min, I believe, but I didn’t want to get too far behind (the speedsters were close to have finished their 3min of rest) so I headed off for the mile repeats. I didn’t hold back as much this time but I still was faster than what I theoretically should have been running. I went 6:48, 7:00, 6:54. (the last is an approximation – I forgot to turn on my watch! So this is based on the time my watch was OFF).
After the hard work was done, I ran the cooldown with Lydia, who’s done Houston a few times. She gave me some insights into the course, and it turns out we’re even staying in the same hotel! So we exchanged phone numbers and will likely do a little run Saturday afternoon. Talking to her got me a bit more enthusiastic. I haven’t felt great lately, but that’s ok. Now’s the time to feel that way.
Then much of the group went and got coffee together (I also got a healthy burrito – ever fueling!) and then I headed to my Coach’s house to discuss my goals and training for 2012.
I was excited and a bit nervous about this meeting. I hoped I wasn’t supposed to have prepared anything! First off, the coach said that he felt I underestimate my speed (actually he said this during the workout as well). We talked a bit about next week, race strategy and pacing.
We set a few target races for the year: the Platte River Half in April and the Bolder Boulder in May. After that we’ll see how I’m doing and figure out what fall marathon I want to do. He said that some of the group is considering Columbus! I was pretty jazzed about that and eagerly texted Meredith and Helen as soon as I left the meeting. THEN I remembered that Runners Roost had posted that there was discounted registration for the Platte River Half today only so I headed right over there and signed up!
He asked about what training I was doing now and he said he’d like to see me up at 45-50mpw, which I think is definitely doable and really where I’d like to be. He seemed good with all the runs I was doing now, but he suggested adding a second two-a-day, possibly doing an easy run Tuesday morning, and then taking Thursday off completely.
We talked about weight-training, which he’s a big advocate of (excellent!). I said I liked to lift 3 days a week, and he said that was great. He actually advocated I also double up lifting with hard running workouts so that I can still maintain those real “recovery” days. However, I’ll have to figure out the real schedule as he suggested Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday and that would put me at 2 runs AND lifting on Tuesday (obviously, not happening). I mentioned that I like HIIT training like the Power 30 at the gym and he actually said he thinks hitting the weights is better!
All in all it was a great meeting and I’m excited about the upcoming year. He doesn’t seem too excited about my running the Leadville Marathon (I haven’t even told him about Pikes Peak yet) because his perspective is that if I’m getting faster, doesn’t it make more sense to focus on that than just being able to say I did 6hrs at Leadville. (I’m not so sure.. ) I also think that I’ve seen in the past how I recover and therefore feel like doing something like Leadville is not going to derail any training. He hasn’t seen that before. Alternatively, I am training a lot harder than I have in the past, so maybe I do need more actual recovery. I guess this will be the year to find out!
