"There's only one hard and fast rule in running: sometimes you have to run one hard and fast."








Monday, July 21, 2008

Notes to Self

After joining Matt for half of his run Friday night at Afton, I was wondering about the hip that I seem to keep landing on. Saturday, I was in no shape to run, so I power-walked in the afternoon until a thunderstorm cut me short; I walk differntly than I run, so I developed a blister right where I always do when I have to walk in races. Note to self: prepare your feet before Voyageur.

Sunday had me wanting to get in some sort of training while I still could and not interfere with running Voyageur on Saturday. I went out yo Hyland and ran with Paul Hasse, who I've missed maybe 20 times in the past year. We saw Kurt and his crew out there and then some of the local legends appeared and I got to walk with them for a while (they'd run hard the day before, but they were out the next day). One of the best things about ultrarunning is that one gets to meet people who've done what you want to do and you can ask them questions. A lot of what Paul had to say fits in with what others tell me, but I couldn't work the details into the framework of what I already believe. He commented on how many races I've been doing (and he didn't know about some of them - not many know I raced the day before Afton, for example) and said what I know all too well - I have to pick and choose now that I'm too old to recover fast. The trouble is that I'm a newbie still at this and need the experience; I want to run well this year, not when I'm 50.
Note to self: focus on the big race in September.

When I posted my plan for training for Superior, I received a number of e-mails from people all making the same suggestions. It's not enough for me to do something because everyone else does it or because it's worked for someone; I need to understand why I should do it. I could see that there was a flaw in my logic, but I couldn't see how to correct it without abandoning everything I know. I think I get it now.

Notes to self: Drop the Wednesday run to 30 minutes and add the dropped 70 minutes to the weekend, making for longer back-to-back long runs. Think in terms of miles, rather than minutes again; 11 miles in 100 minutes on the road is not equal to 100 minutes on the trail, but to 11 miles on the trail - this is going to mean many more hours of training. Since the Wednesday run is now a recovery run, switch the speedwork to Tuesday.

Note to self: Be sure to make comment about how "Ziegenfuss" translates as "goat-foot."

6 comments:

Carl Gammon said...

I loved your quote, "I want to run well this year, not when I'm 50." I know you're not picking on us old timers. :-)

To me, there's nothing wrong with running so that you can run well now AND when you're 50. It sounds like you're getting it. Focus on the races that are really important to you, and you'll have the longevity to really last.

For me, while I don't come close to the level of ultrarunning I was doing in my early 30s, I'm enjoying the heck out of what I'm doing at 50+, after several years out of the game.

It's all good. Especially sharing the trail with all the people I've met the last couple of years.

wildknits said...

The hard thing about looking at what others have done in their training is adapting it to my physical reality.

I am not as durable as other runners. Increase my mileage too fast, run too many miles in one week and I will get injured. My head says and wants one thing, my body finds a way of bringing me back.

The other day someone commented that I was built like an ultra runner - whatever that means.

I ran over 100 miles last month - first time ever! My husband commented that others do that in a week. Yup - more durable than I am.

In my experiment of one, I seem to be doing okay with low mileage training for a marathon. Is an ultra in my future? Don't know yet, though I can't wrap my head around running the SHT in the dark, especially after Saturday's run from Silver Bay to Mt. Trudee and back.

Ultimately my goal is to still be out there in my 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's and beyond enjoying the outdoors and able to mover without an undue amount of pain. If that means taking the time to recover now, so be it. I am in it for the long run.

Besides, the only way I will ever win any races is to outlast the fast folks ;->

Take it easy this week. See you at the Voyageur!

Mike W. said...

I agree with Carl concerning your quote as I am now 50 and may resemble your future if you don't learn to figure out injuries, over-racing and your running.

I ran through too many injuries in my 30's and 40's and am trying to be smarter at 50. Continuously running through injury will drain you mentally and lead to more injuries as will racing too often.

I know you can manage pain while running which is good to a point, just work on figuring the point. Or you may be like me, all speed lost at 50 and working to find it again while still messing around with injuries. Jealous of folks your old age and older flying past you along with all you young folks.

Best of luck at Voyageur.

SteveQ said...

Guys, don't take my comment the wrong way! - consider how close I am to 50 - if I were 20 and saying that, it'd be different. I've been racing for 30 years and i like to think I've learned something along the way. If I run well now, I'll run well when I'm 50; I just don't want to plan that far ahead.

Unknown said...

How are you able to know so much about so many things: science to quotes about the law?!

SteveQ said...

Joel, that wasn't knowledge of law, that was a quote from the movie "The Paper Chase!" Get back to studying.