If I knew then what I know now

I saw this question asked on another blog and it got me thinking. Approximately 25 years ago was the first that I started to take running seriously. By serious I mean racing. I have stopped and started back up so many times since then that I lost count. The first step is to look at why I’m a better runner now then I was 25 years ago.
 Healthy eating
 Stretch every day
 Schedule training and track previous runs
 Keep motivated by always having the next race scheduled

The following is a short list of some of the things I would do differently 25 years ago if I knew then what I know now.
1. Always have a scheduled race on the calendar
 When you only run for fitness it’s easy to skip a workout or two. It doesn’t take long to fall out of your routine and before you know it you have gone weeks without running.
 Since getting back into running 3 years ago, I’ve always had the next race (or races) that I was training for. I usually look forward to running but on those days that I would like to just skip the run I just think about how that will effect my performance in the next race and will usually end up running.
2. Don’t wait to run a marathon
 I thought about running a marathon for a long time but was intimidated by the distance. It took a few marathons before I knew how to prepare. It would have been nice to not have to learn those lessons the hard way.
3. Eat better
 Compared with the average person I’m a fairly healthy eater but I still could have eaten much better. Way too much fast food and beer in my earlier days. It’s amazing how much more energy you have when you eat right.
4. Stretch, stretch, stretch
 I never did much stretching early on and this lead to many injuries. Now, I never run without stretching before and after and I will even stretch on days that I don’t run.
5. Treadmill running
 It wasn’t always easy to find a good place to run or a good time to run. This made for an all too easy excuse to skip a run. Until 2 years ago I never considered running on a treadmill and now that’s where I do most of my running.
6. Pre-plan my training runs
 I’ve done a much better job of sticking to my training and mixing up the workouts when I plan them at least 1-2 weeks out.

Bolt Run 5k

Tampa Bay Lightning Bolt Run 5k

After training for a marathon and half marathons for the last 6 months I finally ran another 5k. My goal this year is to break 20 minutes so my 20:38 was a little bit of a disappointment but not totally unexpected. It’s a little hard to change the mindset from long and steady to hard sprint. It didn’t help that the course didn’t have mile markers so I could monitor my splits.

Overall though it was a good first race to build on. I placed 14th overall and 3rd in my age group. It looked like there were around 400 at the start (about the same as last year).

Words of Motivation

Occasionally I find something in an article or advertisement that really motivates me. When I’m training hard and question why I’m doing this, I look back at these words and remember why.

This first one I can think of was from a magazine ad for Adidas (I think). I hung it up on my refrigerator when I was training for my first marathon some 15 years ago. I wish I had kept the ad but it went something like this:

I used to think that guys who ran in the rain were nuts.
When I started doing that
I decided that guys who ran at dawn were nuts.
When I started doing that
I decided that guys who ran marathons were nuts.
So here I am getting up at 5am to train for a marathon and it’s snowing.


Another was from a Running Times article:

Boston Marathon qualifiers don’t sign sneaker deals. Coaches don’t push them through their workouts, and fans don’t line up for their autographs. They will never break a world record, or mug for the cameras, or take a victory lap.

Boston Marathon qualifiers aren’t great runners.

But they are very, very good.

The Olympic Trials and Boston are the only two races in the country that require a qualifying time. The top few runners aim for the Trials. Everyone else shoots for Boston. The runners who make it achieve a status somewhere between the Olympian and the weekend warrior. Somewhere between Superman and the everyman.

GPS

I was looking for a good heart rate monitor that I could run with. I was one made by Garmin that has a GPS device. I have now convinced myself that I need that. The thing I hate the most about running outside is I can't monitor my speed and can only guess how far I've run. Running with a GPS device will tell me not only my current pace but also how far I've run.

The only model that I can find in the stores is the forerunner 305 which is pretty bulky on to wear on your wrist. The new 405 model is out but I can't find it anywhere.

I know if I get the 305 now I won’t be happy with it so I will probably wait.

2008 Race Schedule

I plan to run in the following races this year. All are repeats from last year except the Chicago Marathon. I would like to find a couple more 5k races this spring but so far I haven’t seen too much out there that I would like to run.

2/23 – Bolt Run 5k (Tampa)
3/16 – St Pats 5k (Brandon)
4/12 – Seminole Stampede 5k or 10k
5/3 – May Classic 5k (Tampa)
6/7 – Spring into Summer 5k (Tampa)
10/12 – Chicago Marathon
12/6 – OUC Half-Marathon (Orlando)

New PR in Gasparilla Half

I just missed my goal of sub 1:36 but I still finished the Gasparilla half in a new PR of 1:37:15. I had something left at the end but I’m not sure it was enough to have run 1:15 faster. I still have a long way to go but when I set a PR after almost every race I know I’m doing something right.

Overall it was another well run race. The start temp was in the low 50’s which is about perfect for me. There was a little headwind when running north on Bayshore to the finish but it probably didn’t affect my time more than a few seconds.

It’s now time to start focusing on 5k’s for a few months.

Pre race training dilemma

I still struggle with how much training I should do the week before a race (half to full marathon). Prior to last month’s marathon, I ran a moderate 10.5 miles on Saturday (8 days before the race) and an easy 7 miles on Tuesday. That left 4 days off before the race. By race day my legs felt great and I had a great run.

This week I tried running a little harder mostly because I am only running a half but also I wanted to try a different approach.
Last Saturday I ran 12.5 miles (5 easy, 7.5 at race pace).
Monday I ran 4.5 miles most of it near 5k pace.
Tuesday I intended to take it easy but that turned into an 8 mile run (last 5 at race pace)
Thursday I ran an easy 5. I was still feeling the effects of Tuesdays run though.

I have two full days of rest before Sunday’s race so I will see then if my hard running was a good thing or bad.