I ran into someone recently that said they had read my
Superior 100 recap. Given that that race was over 3 years ago, I went back and
read it too. All this happened to coincide with a spark of motivation on my
end. Honestly, since that race I have been in a lull athletically. I’m not
exactly sure why but I have some theories;
That race took a lot out of me.
That race was the pinnacle for me – I really don’t think I can top that experience.
Covid happened about 6 months after that race.
I trained through Covid pretty well, but virtual races didn’t appeal to me.
I’m in my 50s and have been running for over 40 years. My relationship with the sport has definitely changed over time.
I’ve been helping coach high school cross country and track the last 3 years – placing a lot of my time and energy on their performances.
I’m sure the list could go on and on, but these come to mind
immediately. Anyway, this spark of motivation has me thinking about a race schedule
and some goals for 2023. And I thought I would write about the process along
the way – maybe it’ll help me define this relationship with running and how it’s
changing.
The last time I blogged regularly, I’m sure I was very
interested in who was reading, how many people were following along, wondering
if anyone commented, etc. Given that society has moved on to digital platforms
that are more visual, this may be more like a personal journal that nobody
reads but me. I’m ok with that.
Just to catch up since the Superior 100, I can probably
count on 2 hands the number of races I’ve run since September 2019. I ran
Grandma’s Marathon in June of this year and finished in 3:48, which was my 2nd
worst marathon time ever – out of 21 road marathons. Prior to that it had been
6 years since I finished my last marathon, 3:27 and my 3rd worst
ever.
A month after this
year’s Grandma’s Marathon, I jumped into a 10K ran just under 48 minutes (7:42
pace). It's hard for me to get overly excited about racing when those are my performances. Then we had 2 weeks in Italy where I didn’t run a single step.
September was okay, but then I got Covid in early October. Then something surprising
happened, I entered a Thanksgiving Day 8K with little to no expectations, and I
ended up running rather well.
Before I get to the results here’s a look at my 6 weeks of
training leading up to the race, after Covid;
Running; Averaged 22 MPW
Long Run; 10 miles
Workouts; Two 3-mile tempo runs – avg ~ 7:40-7:45 pace
Biking; Averaged 33 MPW
Lifted; 1-2 times per week
Weight; Down 6-7 pounds since Grandma’s
As I said, I had little to no expectations. Given my two
tempo efforts, I figured 7:30 pace would be a good goal, somewhere in the 37-38
minute range. I ran this race in 2016 in 33-something (6:46 pace). In the “old
days” I’d have been concerned with every mile split and analyzing whether or
not I was going to hit my goal. This time around, not really having a goal, I
just ran. I focused on my thoughts and competing and let the time take care of
itself – what a concept?!?! The only time I saw the elapsed time was coming
into the finishing chute where I was pleasantly surprised to see 35:XX. I never
saw the exact time and results weren’t kept, but my GPS said I averaged 7:12
pace, which would be about 35:50 for a certified 8K.
Utter shock might be a good description of how I felt. But
then as I thought more about my (lack of) goal, I’m guessing I was being a
little conservative. I mean I did run a controlled 3 miles at 7:40 pace by myself.
But the thought of 2 more miles at 30 seconds per mile never crossed my mind. When
I got home, I immediately punched those results into an age-grading calculator
and pace calculator to see what other race times would be predicted.
Age-grading is one of those tools I used to poo-poo before
during 40, now I find it a useful tool. Typically, my race results are around 70%
age-graded. For comparison Grandma’s 2016 was 64.5% and 2022 was 61.7% - even
this summer’s 10K was 64.5%. When I punched in 35:50 for a 53-year-old and saw
68.5% I was thrilled. Not only that, but the pace calculator converts this time
to sub-3:30 for the marathon. Granted, I have a lot of work to do before my
next marathon to hit that time, or faster, but it’s a little easier to get out
the door when you can see that as a goal rather than starring at 3:48.
This is already getting long, so I’ll save my 2023 plans, goals,
strategies, etc. for a later date. For now I’ll just be happy if I can remember
how to get this posted to my blog.
