Sunday, January 19, 2014

Your body knows more than you do

I've learned more and more over the years that training plans should be written in pencil (or at least a spreadsheet on a computer with a working "delete" key).  The body knows how it feels better than any words written on paper do.  This week was one of those weeks that solidified this a little more for me. 

I'm starting to get into more "marathon training mode" now, as I have just over three months left.  My original plan for the week was 90 miles, build up more the next week, then back off for a fast 5K at the Brockport Golden Eagle Invitational, but due to several circumstances, I decided to instead try the 5K at the RIT Tiger Invitational this weekend. I still wanted to hit mileage, but I figured I could frontload the week, do a mile repeat workout (goal: 6-7) on Tuesday, and still be rested for the 5K on Saturday.  

Things were going well until Monday.  I got back to lab that evening after my PM run and dinner and started to work. After a half an hour or so, though, I felt really tired all of a sudden.  I got chills, felt really warm, and had an upset stomach.  My first thought was the flu. (Spoiler alert: it probably wasn't the flu.) I finished up the procedures I had to in lab, then went home, watched "How I Met Your Mother", and went to bed. 

I got up the next morning (the morning I planned the workout) later than I wanted to still feeling awful, but I decided to try to run.  I barely made it a few minutes before feeling nauseous, so I finished up a mile, went home and tried to eat before work.  I had no appetite but did the best I could.  I figured I'd run if I felt good enough after work.  Surprisingly, I did, and I completed a run without feeling awful.  I contemplated trying a shortened version of the workout the next morning.  
 The next morning came and I got to the track well enough.  However, barely halfway through my first repeat, I felt awful again.  I cut off and decided to just go easy, possibly for the rest of the week until the race.  This went well; I could still put in easy mileage, and I finally got my "full" appetite back on Thursday.  The only "hard" stuff I did was two 400 meter pickups on Friday at just faster than goal pace, more as a confidence booster going into the race.

Saturday morning came, and I was feeling surprisingly good.  Dave was also racing; the plan was to let the college kids do whatever they wanted to do (likely go out hard) but ignore them and get to the mile between 4:55 and 5:00.  Then we'd hold on from there.  Unlike last week, I wanted to succeed at sticking to the plan.  I got to RIT, did a warm up, and soon enough, it was race time.

The gun went off, and the race went off more slowly than expected.  We hung back and came through the first lap in 38-39 seconds.  We picked it up a little bit, and soon it was Dave, Chad Byler, and I out front.  We came through the 1600m in 4:57.  Perfect.  Dave soon started to surge, and I went with him but stuck close behind him.  Just after halfway through the race, I started to surge, mumbling something like "I'll start doing some of the work" but which probably sounded like "ladsfa iajdf a;asd".  Chad came back right before 3200m, and we ran through in 9:59ish, and he backed out.  Now was the time to hang tough.  A few laps later, Dave came back and we started to work again.  With 600m left, I started to go and push "hard".  I crossed the bell lap in 15:15ish and tried to kick.  With 150m left, a freshman from Geneseo got ahead of me.  I tried to get him but failed.  I crossed the line in second place in 15:48 (a new PR!), just as the freshman desecrated the track with the contents of his stomach.  Dave was close behind in a solid 15:58.

This week did not go as planned, and I still have a lot to learn about listening to my body.  Maybe it's stubbornness or stupidity (or a combination of both) that causes me to not want to give up miles.  Maybe I would have run even better if I had just taken a day off this week to recover.  But with a strong race and a new PR on a 90 mile week, I'd be lying if I said I was disappointed.  I know I can be a little smarter about my training, but this week gives me confidence as I go into the tougher weeks of training.

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