August 10 rest
August 11 11 miles Around Gaston MS
August 12 11 miles Around Gaston MS
August 1312.5 miles Around Gaston MS
August 14 13 miles Around Gaston MS
August 15 16 miles Around Gaston MS & Forest Hills
August 16 16 miles Around Gaston MS & Forest Hills
80 miles total
So this week was HOT! All of the six runs this week I ended up completely drenched with sweat. Some of the runs I had to leave the school early to either head home or run the extra miles in more shaded areas. I know long term these runs will help, but in the moment the heat is definitely tough. In order to cope with the triple digits, I have started taking my water bottle one every run. Before that I would only carry the water bottle on longer runs. I'm also taking salt pills every day, and adding gu's as needed. I bough some boxes of cliff GU's and they certainly help especially for the longer runs to give me a bit of a boost. I also tend to sweat a great deal so certainly trying to take precautions with the heat. The good news is that next week seems to be cooler with a low of 74 instead of the 82's this week, so certainly looking forward to the cooler weather.
Curious why no concern about pace and also why no recovery run, tempo run etc. is this simply a different method? As I want to improve should I simply just add more slow mileage or do you think different types of runs are better?
So last week I received a multipart question and I decided to try and answer it as best as I could on this week entry. The first part of the questions deals with differentiation of runs. So in many training plans you have intervals, hill, tempo, fartlek workouts which are considered in one form or another speed development training. The question asked why I wasn't running any of those types of workout. The answer is simple that I'm working on my base phase per Lydiard's training and my main concern is to get the mileage and time on my feet. Also because of the summer heat in Dallas, it's just tough to do any speed workout so I have to choose what to focus on. Arthur Lydiard mentions how miles and getting a foundation is the crucial part to any training program. Once the weather cools naturally my training runs become faster and I start to pick up the pace.
Also related to this I'm not concerned about pace, because as mentioned previously the weather is a factor and I'm just wanting time on my feet. For myself I'm not looking at changing paces in a race, for the races I have done I have a set heart rate and I attempt to stay within a range. For a competitive athlete who is looking at winning a marathon for example this would certainly be different.
The next part is more difficult to answer. I cannot say what others should or shouldn't do since what may work for me won't necessarily work for others. I would just encourage others to look are your running history and see what has worked and hasn't worked in the past. Also I like to look at thing in the long term since I have been running for 20+ years now. Most of what I do is looking at the long term and trying to see how I am able to improve/sustain performance throughout the years. I have seen many local runners with great talent come and go, and I certainly would rather have a long term approach to running, since it has certainly benefited me in many aspects of my life. Thanks for the question.
So this week I have been contemplating the idea of being honest. Honesty is difficult and many people don't want to hear or face the truth. I'll admit that many times I have not been honest with myself and have been in a state of lying for several reasons. For example, not accepting your level of fitness, or not acknowledging what your body is feeling. By not being honest with yourself you put yourself in a position of increasing things like injury, burn out, or simply not enjoying running.
When I was a younger runner I now look back and see how not being honest with myself affected my training. Many times I was not honest with my own training and pretended that I was in a certain shape when I wasn't. In a race I only ended up disappointed as ultimately the truth prevailed. Running is a neat sport because it forces you to be honest with yourself and eventually the truth comes out.
As I reflect on this week I'm realizing to be congruent with myself and being okay with certain things. Even if it's not the way I want it or would like to see it, I'm learning just to accept it and work towards something better if it is not satisfactory for certain reasons. As mentioned above it's not that I don't care about my pace, at a certain level I do care since I would like to continue to challenge my PR; but I acknowledge that factors that I cannot control such as the weather are hindering the pace and how my body reacts to how fast the body moves.
When one is posing or not being honest with oneself in order to put a front, it will only lead to disappointment in the long term. This is something difficult since it's easier to pretend than to be honest with yourself. Many time if you lie to yourself enough times you will start to believe them and take them a real thing. But being okay with yourself and then working towards things you would like to improve I believe is a lot more healthy and productive to actual level 2 change.
Final Thoughts
Thank you for the question last week, don't claim to be a coach, nor am I interested as in running you have to focus on yourself. Just want to share my ideas and have a reflective journal especially in these changing times. Isn't that what being honest is all about? As always thank you for reading and all the best!
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