I’m trying to determine which is a harder concept to define/capture; confidence or motivation. In my last post I mentioned gaining confidence and fitness. It’s true, I have been gaining confidence, but it seems like such a slippery concept. If I build my weekly mileage for weeks on end and include a couple workouts each week, my confidence will build over that timeframe. However, miss one workout or catch a slight cold and confidence starts to slip. Meanwhile, motivation can be just as elusive. This really occurred to me last weekend when it I entered a 25K race with the intention of running 5K easy, then 20K at MP. It was typical April weather in Minnesota, meaning, 40 degrees and light rain. I thought nothing of the weather and went out and executed my plan. Where motivation comes in is when I compare this to a low-key 4-mile race last 4th of July. After getting my packet I went to my car where it started raining – keep in mind it was probably 75 degrees. After sitting there for a few minutes, I talked myself out of racing, started my car and went home. The point is, motivation was definitely lacking in July, but it’s currently very high.
Looking
at a recap of week #8 below, you’ll see a lot of easy days after my 10-mile
race. My friend Evan and I have debated this over the years. He adheres to the
rule of no workouts after a race for the number of days equal to the number of
miles raced. Therefore, a 10-mile race would be followed by 10 days without a
hard workout. My rule is slightly more lenient. No workouts after a race for the
number of days equal to half the number of kilometers raced. Therefore, 10
miles equals 16K divided by 2 equals 8 days without a hard workout.
I
think both formulas work. The key being that you take time after a race to
really recover. Honestly, that can be very hard to do when you’re in the middle
of a training cycle and just coming off a great race. The first instinct is to get
back out there and keep working hard – especially when your pre-set plan doesn’t
know you raced, and it already has workouts slotted for the following week. It
takes discipline to skip those workouts and just run easy.
Here's
a little bit about the Ron Daws 25K. If you’re not familiar with Daws, he was a
1968 Olympian in the marathon. He wrote a couple of classic books; Self-made
Olympian and Running Your Best. He was from Minnesota and the claim
is that he used to train on this 25K route as preparation for Boston. It’s a
multi-loop course that includes two rather significant hills. One you go up 4
times and the twice on the other one. The main reason I bring this up is that
it’s difficult to get consistent splits on this course. My 20K at MP ended up
being anywhere from 7:35 – 8:13 per mile. In the end, I averaged 7:48 pace or
roughly 3:24 for the marathon. While I think I can run faster than that, it was
a very good test run after -back-to-back high mileage weeks. Also, after
checking splits on the first couple of miles, I just ran by feel and was pleasantly
pleased with the results.
That
means I’m halfway through this training cycle and still feeling confident,
motivated and ready for more.
WEEK #8
RECAP OF WEEK 4/2 – 4/8
Sunday – 13 miles, including Goldy’s 10-mile race in
1:10:59
Monday – AM: Strength, PM: 4 easy miles
Tuesday – 4 easy miles
Wednesday – 6 miles
Thursday – 5 miles
Friday – 7 miles w/ 12 x :20 strides
Saturday – 20-mile-long run w/ Derek
Summary: 59 miles and 1 strength training
WEEK #9
RECAP OF WEEK 4/9 – 4/15
Sunday – 4 easy miles
Monday – AM: Strength, NOON: 7.5-mile Structured Fartlek,
PM: 3-mile shakeout during track practice
Tuesday – 6-mile foundations run
Wednesday – 6.5-mile foundations run
Thursday – AM: Strength + 3-mile shakeout, NOON: 6 miles,
including 8 x 1:00 HILLS w/ 2:00 jog
Friday – 7-mile foundations run w/ Scott
Saturday – 17 miles total, including Ron Daws 25K (5K
easy at 8:40 pace, 20K at MP ~7:48 pace)
Summary: 60 miles of running and 2 strength training
Quote of the day;
“It isn’t what we say or think that defines us, but what we do.” – Jane Austen
