Fall Training Update: Revisions

Remember when I signed up for another marathon? Oh, I didn't tell you? Oops. At this point, training for marathons has become something I do so regularly that it no longer feels special. Much like eating the same thing for breakfast and a consistent bedtime, it's become habitual. While it's comforting to be doing the same thing every season, it's also lacking that sparkle. This time it's another running of the California International Marathon in Sacramento on December 4th.

I truly enjoy the process of training for long races. If I didn't, what's the point? I keeping the training run to race ratio low so months of preparation for just a handful of races makes them more special. Each start line still brings that bubble of nervous energy and excitement.

HRM afternoon.

That said, the races I've run since my half marathon PR in September have been kind of blah. I know it's largely due to it being October, the one big allergy month each year that manages to sneak up and knock me on my ass. I never perform anywhere near my potential and I sometimes wonder why I keep fighting through it when the outcome isn't in my favor. Oh wait, I like it?

HRM Course. So wet.

The key training word I focus on during October is revise. But where do I start? I don't want my fitness to suffer by cutting out too much, but I don't want pound myself into the ground either.

The first change I make is intensity. I can usually tell if I'm breathing too hard and my allergic asthma is bothering me before I even lace up my shoes.

HRM race posse: Me, Ricky, Matt, Brandon, and Rachel.

My first revision day was the Humboldt Redwoods Half Marathon. By mile six, I was struggling to keep my pace below an eight minute mile. That's my marathon pace! Instead of grinding myself to a pulp, Rachel and I stuck together. She didn't realize that she was coming down with a bad cold and having an even worse day than I was until her pace completely unraveled. The whole day was worth it for this perfectly synchronized race shot courtesy of our club photographer. If you scroll down enough to where it only shows our legs, they look eerily similar. Training buddy twins!!

Y. Kim photo.

It was my/our slowest time (1:47) in several years, but by slowing it down and listening to my body, I was able to rally and salvage my training week, making it to just over 70 miles by Saturday.

One day last week, I had a plan to run 4x1mile repeats. After two repeats that felt like death marches and were almost twenty seconds slower than they should have been, I decided to change it up. My asthma seems to be less of an issue with shorter intervals so my day ended up being 2x1mile, 2x1/2mi, and 2x1/4 mi. I ended up with the same amount of speed, but it left me feeling confident in my workout and got the turnover I needed.

If I'm still dragging after shortening or eliminating speed days, I start cutting mileage. I begin by shortening the easy days. Most of them are filler miles that help support my base, not speed building days, so I shave a few off of one run and see how it goes. If I need to do it again later in the week on another easy day, I do. I have to be feeling really terrible to cut my long run short. I've never had to go that far.

Fireside naps with my recovery coach help the most.

As it almost always does in late October, the rains come more regularly. With each soggy run, I can tell relief is coming. Today's run was three minute fartleks (3 fast:3 recovery). It went surprisingly well and made me even more hopeful that I'm on the upswing. November is coming soon, after all. :)