A couple of times in the last few weeks, I have jokingly observed to my running companions that the key to successful training is to avoid feeling too good. It's when you feel really good, really fit, that you make the most egregious training mistakes.
Well, perhaps that's overstating things a bit. But I have certainly noticed with myself that feeling good is like being slightly intoxicated. it feels like you can do ANYTHING and get away with it. Run back-o-back races on a Saturday and Sunday? Sure, why not... Run 80 miles a week instead of 60? Hey, I was feeling fine... It's like the old joke about the optimist who falls off the 80-story skyscraper; as he passes the 50th floor he says "so far, so good!"
There's something to be said for being a little fatigued, a little subdued in your approach to the daily running task. I have found that good training is a little boring -- the same damn thing over and over, week after week without high highs or low lows. A stretch of this kind of training is not without its satisfactions, as you realize that gradually and without fanfare, you are logging a lot of good miles, and making it all feel routine.
And there ARE highlights, but not necessarily performance-related. There is the long run with friends that feels easy and satisfying, the run in the rain that goes really well and puts a smile on your face in spite of the outside gloom. There is the social life -- and the chance to talk while out for yet another 7-8 mile run.
Maybe this kind of mood isn't conducive for the peak of a racing season, but that's ok. When you're racing, you are so neurotic about being ready to run your best on one day that it keeps you from doing stupid things on the days leading up to the race. It's ok to feel good as you gather up your energy for the big event. But without races to enforce some kind of restraint, feeling good is a temptation that few of us can resist.
So I ran with all the NSRP folks at Cold Springs last night -- a pretty quick run (for me, not for them), and I felt pretty good. And I feel pretty good this morning.
I think I'd better stay in bed until the feeling passes.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
8 comments:
Nice observation. I think when you are in one of those grooves you can rac e pretty well - I think why you see some early season good times form some people who are coming off a prrolonged period of steady training. What's that about the tortoise and the hare?
Nothing wrong with 80 miles a week. If feeling good motivates you to do it, where's the problem. Gerry Lindgren used to have 80 mile days.
Thanks for the comments.
I have no objection to 80-mile weeks for people who can handle 80-mile weeks. But I think that if you have a plan, and you make a big deviation from the plan because you feel better than expected on a given day or couple of days, you are asking for trouble.
A runner who can't handle 80 miles a week is not going to attempt it. Or they may run it slowly. To not run 80 miles because you had a plan for 60 but now feel you should do 80 is being too conservative. If you can't do it you won't do it. Clint Eastwood said a man has to know his limitations. I say a man does.
Anonymous -- thanks for the comment.
It has been my consistent experience that runners (including me) have a poor sense of their limitations, and that the little judgement they do have goes completely out the window when they are feeling like super-heroes from all the mileage they're running.
Have to disagree on two counts. My experience ( 55 years, running and coaching) is that runners know themselves. They have the best judgement. More importantly, if they are off no harm will result. They are not going to get hurt or burn out; they will simply readjust their pace or plan. (Previous anonymous, by mistake, comment was mine.)
I have to agree with Jon on this one.
Post a Comment