BEFORE THEY HATCH

Gregg submitted a good thought-provoking comment after my last post. Not sure everyone reads the comments, so I thought I’d pull out the key points and try to address them.

“It seems like you have remained, for the most part, injury free since I started reading your blog some three years ago. What I see from your posts is inconsistency over the YEARS.”

Below is a chart of my monthly mileage over the last decade. I would have to say it’s pretty consistent, especially from 2004 through August of 2008. The end of 2002 – 2003 was that “dark period” where I did tris and didn’t track running-specific mileage.

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Jan 250 323 201 314 364 284 258 81
Feb 205 298 214 248 326 275 168 85
Mar 234 295 250 316 365 293 250 183
Apr 243 113 156 279 251 254 158 249
May 255 178 252 282 110 268 301 296
Jun 112 219 267 102 121 151 265 179
Jul 138 266 242 222 291 253 285 281
Aug 248 298 213 181 265 265 282 202
Sep 233 238 146 186 295 100 153 184
Oct 117 98 141 263 101 177 285 112 142
Nov 270 204 274 246 290 302 195 213
Dec 267 252 276 316 350 332 88 199
Total 2,572 2,326 597 2,754 2,793 3,205 3,062 2,515 2,294

Of course, the last two winters have included more skiing than running, which Gregg gets at with his next point.

“You might put together 10 or 12 weeks of decent training, but as you are well aware, youth is not on our sides anymore and we need to stay consistent with our training year around.”

I totally agree about putting together 10 – 12 weeks of decent training. That’s why if you look at the numbers above, you’ll see that my biggest months typically have been December – March. I love(d) just going out in the winter and putting in miles in order to be in great shape in the spring.

“Now, you have decided to train for the Birkie the last two winters and that is fine. The problem is, skiing will not get you anywhere near the same results for running as some think.”

No, skiing fitness may not transfer to running as much as I’d like, but I absolutely love it. So much so, that if you asked me in the middle of winter if I had to choose between a sub-3 Birkie and running a sub-3 marathon again, I’d have chosen the sub-3 Birkie. Of course, that time is less meaningful when it comes to skiing, but you get the point.

I mean I’ve been doing this for over 30 years. Am I just supposed to keep running 5Ks, 10Ks and marathons over and over – hoping that training goes well, the weather cooperates, and I shave 12 seconds from last year’s time? At what point is it okay to experience different things? I don’t want to look back when it’s all said and done and just see a trail of Human Race, Get in Gear, Grandma’s and TCM results.

Gregg mentioned a desire to do the Birkie at some point too, but he’s putting it off for awhile. I think it was last year when I wrote that I don’t have many regrets in life, but one of them is not starting to ski sooner in life.

“Although the Pfitzinger, Daniels plans are great, I don't see that you have figured out what works for you. Or have you?”

This is a very interesting question and it really has me thinking. I’m in the process of digging through each of my training logs from 2001 – 2009 and summarizing the high points; program followed, goal race, key workouts, weekly and monthly mileage, race times, injuries, etc. It’s probably something I should have done long ago. Hopefully, I’ll find some key insights. I’m sure there will be more to come on this.

Anyway, so far this week is going really well. I hate counting miles before they hatch, but I should be around 60-65 miles on 6 days of running. I performed my first Daniels’ workout on Thursday; 2 mile warm-up, 2 x 10 minutes at threshold with 2 minute rest, 7 miles easy. I’ve even included some strides this week and had a great group trail run this morning.

Today’s quote of the day comes after this morning’s run. Paul was talking to Tony as he trains for the Western States 100, but he might as well been talking to me;

"You can gain a lot of fitness in just 12 weeks.” – Paul Holovnia