More Miles, Longer Runs = ???

Beginning this past summer I have been running somewhat consistently with Team Rogue (less now as track has begun) and have gained a lot of strength by increasing the distance of my long runs over the past 6-8 months. I remember the first week of practice at UT three plus years ago and having a ten mile “long” run. It is almost hard to even comprehend that right now considering that is not even my average daily distance these days. In my defense, I was definitely not fit enough at that point to run near what I am now, but I think that it just shows how years of consistency and a slow and steady progression can pay dividends if you have the patience and discipline to ride it out.

Though I have hit the 20 mile mark in about three of my long runs, I have been topping out at 18 for a few weeks now. It is amazing to me how easy this can feel once your body is used to the load. After running 18 and working for eight hours my friend and I were laughing at how we felt like we hadn’t even ran that morning. Compared to mid-July, which is when I first began playing with 16+ mile long runs, it is night and day. I used to feel like I needed an ice bath and a long nap after the runs and would typically take Sunday as my easy rest day. Now however, I am able to wake up and put in 8-10 miles and feel pretty decent. Sometimes I am wrecked, I will not lie. Most of the time though, I feel like I am recovering well enough to get right back out there.

The real interesting part of this year of increased mileage is no doubt going to be during outdoor track season this spring. I will be racing the 5k and 10k (maybe an occasional 3k if Steve is feeling really mean), which are all considerably shorter than what most of the people I’m training with are getting ready for. Actually, I fall smack dab in the middle of my two groups. Team Rogue athletes are all marathoners or further, and my teammates at UT run 5k and shorter (mostly). This puts me in a bit of a no man’s land. I feel as though all of the distance and strength work that I’ve been logging will put me in a good spot for the 10k. We will be adding a good deal of shorter track work in the months to come too, so that should serve to sharpen up my wheels (haaa). My strengths have always seemed suited for holding a fast pace for a long time rather than a really fast pace for a shorter period, so I think that my huge base and the over-distance work I’ve been doing will serve me quite well.

The most common worry associated with doing high mileage and a lot of threshold work is that it will dull you for racing shorter races such as the 5k & 10k, and I agree that it is a fine line. Becoming too fatigued from the training load and not getting your legs moving quickly on a consistent basis definitely puts you at risk of being unable to shift gears when the race calls for it. For me though, I think that my coach has kept a great balance of pace work as well as threshold workouts in the mix so that I feel strong and quick instead of sluggish. I wasn’t always sure of this, but after my PR in the 3k off of a very tough few weeks I saw it as validation for the type and amount of training that we are putting in.

For now it is still indoor season and I’ve got a few more races to go before thinking about the 10k, but track tends to go by very quickly, so I will be racing on the big oval before I know it…gulp.

Track? What is that?

It has been quite a while now (well, about a month) since I’ve trained with my team, and I am starting to get quite used to it. Running workouts alone, easy runs with rogues, and being the master of my own schedule plays into my control-freak personality. It’s not that I am not excited to give my last season of track a good go, rather, I am just getting very antsy to start training for my first try at the marathon. I say “try” because of the fact that I am still unsure of how I will handle it. Training wise, I think I will be fine, but there is still a part of me that thinks I may not have it upstairs, at least not yet. It will be a stretch to get through the race at the paces that I will be aiming for since that is how my coach seems to train me, right on the edge of my personal limit. Then again, I know that I am tough, and that I will hopefully have a training partner or two running at my side, so I may surprise myself.

The funny thing about the notion of my running a marathon is that ever since I began running long distance I have had to rebut the same assumption by friends and family, “you’re going to run marathons right?” My answer up until about a year ago was always, “HELL NO”. It will be a very annoying day as there are several people who will take pleasure in ribbing me for making such a drastic change in attitude towards the race. Mine was probably a natural progression to mentally accepting running a two-mile race, a 6-mile race, and then eventually the whole shebang.

Well, until June I will resign myself to running the 5k, 10k, and gasp, the dreaded 3k (the race that basically makes me want to break things).

Maybe one day, like in July say, I will actually need to use the holiday flavored GU that I bought…I couldn’t help myself, it is gingerbread flavor 🙂