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Let’s do this thing… er, things

Let’s do this thing… er, things

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Thanks for the commentary on my earlier post about training plans. I’ve decided to give the Pfitzinger 55 mpw plan a try (from Advanced Marathoning). I’m going into it already with solid mileage, so I think it’s totally doable. I have also heard and read some great things about it (including my training partner who used it and ran his PR), so I’m cautiously optimistic.

In other news, I bought my airfare to Oregon for the Eugene Marathon on 4/28; this s— just got (more) real!

"running in the footsteps of legends"
“running in the footsteps of legends”

Last week ended up being surprisingly high mileage for me–almost 50–and I’ve been feeling great and totally unfazed (and not at all like I just did a marathon on 1/13). I think this is a good sign. I’d like to think I’m smart and experienced enough to avoid committing the TMTSTF mistake–too much, too soon, too fast–but seriously, words cannot adequately describe how energized I am at knowing that what used to be decently high mileage for me not that long ago now doesn’t have the same lasting effects. It’s interesting.

To that extent, a friend–my buddy, Dan, whom I met at Houston and ran with for the majority of the race–and I have been talking about women endurance runners and their performance versus their age, and he sent me this really interesting article about that very topic. Check it out at your leisure (and let me know what you think; I’m curious!).

In other news, Chicago is having freakish weather this week (high in the mid-40s yesterday; high-50s today; and oh, yeah, it’ll be sub-20 tomorrow), so I’m looking forward to taking advantage of some nice temps to run with A today. I haven’t taken her out in a few weeks, thanks to the marathon, said recovery, and then the Siberian temps we had last week. Pics forthcoming…

And finally (short post today), I’m pretty stoked about this 10k race I’m doing at Soldier Field on Sunday. For starters, I haven’t run a 10k since I was about… oh… 14 weeks pregnant (give or take a few weeks), back in late October 2010. I haven’t done a ton of 10ks in the first place, so I’m eager to see what I can do on Sunday with my fitness being what it is now (note: that’s a horribly veiled way of me saying that I want to annihilate… whoa, violent… my PR). It should be an awesome day, between what looks to be decent weather, a friend doing it as his first road race ever (awesome!), and catching up with some other awesome runner friends… lots of pics to follow, for sure.

On the fence

On the fence

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That’s where I’m hanging these days, since I am not 100% sure how I want to train for Eugene. Right now, I’m thinking I’ll take another 1-2 weeks of pretty easy, unstructured running (as part of a reverse taper from Houston), race my 10k on 2/3 in the attempt to PR, and then begin Eugene training on 2/4.  That seems and sounds manageable, since that’ll give me a good 10 weeks of training time between early February and late April.

What I’m uncertain about, however, is how I want to train.

I’m considering a few different plans, all of which are all over the place in terms of mileage and running frequency- 3-4 days a week, 5-6 days a week, 35-50 miles, 50+, 50-60 miles… so I’m not really sure how I want to proceed.

My goal for Eugene is to go after that sub-3:30 that I just narrowly missed in Houston. I think I’m physiologically capable of it even now; I just have to do some refinement and honing in the next couple months.

My training usually has me running about 6 days a week (along with some strength work, a la WCCF), a good variety of hard and easy/recovery days, and I always have a good time with it (read: I enjoy it). The thought of only running 3-4 days a week is not appealing to me, at all.

I need… more.

Don’t get me wrong, there are always days where the running comes more easily than others, but if I ever *don’t* look forward to training, I take the day off to recharge my batteries. It works immensely well for me.

The other interesting thing to consider is that usually, my training has capped me off around 50 miles per week because that has always been my “sweet spot,” the point in my training where overtraining starts to seep in and even a rudimentary cost-benefit analysis shows that I’m quickly reaching diminishing returns, since I’ve tended to develop some ITBS once I hit that mileage.

Here’s the curveball, though: that was all pre-pregnancy.

Since being pregnant and subsequently giving birth, I have experienced just the opposite; now, 50 mpw, or very close to it, don’t yield the same ITBS or overtraining symptoms that it once did.

I have no idea what to make of this–if it’s a different mentality I’m taking toward my running now, my miles being more quality than they were before, or something else entirely (hormonal? maybe??)–so I’m not sure how to proceed.

Just because I can do something doesn’t mean I should do something… right?

When you’re developing your training plans for a target race (or a specific goal) and want to change things up, how do you negotiate the unfamiliar territory? I’m super curious to hear.