Monday, May 03, 2010

April Recap and What's Next?

It feels like it's been a really long time since I've posted, and I guess it kind of has - truthfully I haven't had much to say.  I have been running a decent amount since Boston, but nothing really exciting - a whole bunch of 4.5-6 mile runs with one 7.5 miler yesterday, as I decided I needed to get back into the pattern of a Sunday "long" run. But I figured doing an April training recap was as good of a reason as any to post!

April's mileage was way down from March & February, mostly due to the fact that it pretty much went through the cycle of taper...race...recover...start slow.  Still, I wound up with 156.5 miles, which I'd say is fairly respectable.  The stats:
April 2010
Total miles: 156.5
Days off: 7
Races: 1
Workouts: 3

I've already been trying to peruse my training to figure out what things I want to change when I start my next marathon training cycle which will begin in July...remember when I said that Boston was going to be my last marathon for awhile? That was a huge lie.  I think it's because the marathon is now my vendetta race, the one I KNOW I'm capable of more in and just haven't been able to show it yet.  The 5K? Sad as it sounds, I got my sub-20 and that was really all I ever could have asked for.  I will happily race 5Ks until the end of time, but something tells me that without a track season, actually training specifically for them isn't going to be a big priority for me.  The 10K in my opinion is just a means to an end to other races...again, it's a fun distance, but not something I could see myself being devoted to training for one peak race. Half marathons get a little trickier, since technically a half COULD in and of itself be a peak race [to be honest, I think I very well might have left my Boston race out on the New Bedford half course].  And now that I've run a solid half that I was actually trained for, I like the distance, I really do.  But I think the fact that I ran such a huge PR in the distance on my way somewhere else would make me less excited if the half itself was the end point.  When it all comes down to it, at the moment, the marathon is the only distance where I'm actually dissatisfied with my PR.  I think my 5K/10K/HM PRs are pretty reflective of my current status as a runner - of course I still want to improve them, but I'm thrilled with what they are even now.  The marathon though...I know I have more to give.  And my mileage-whore personality I don't think will be satisfied with anything less than the high mileage fun times that marathon training requires.

I learned a LOT from training for Boston and from actually following a plan - even though the end race wasn't what I wanted, I really can't say that there's much I'd change about my training. My fitness was high, my workouts were all fantastic.   I do believe that I peaked too early [anyone remember me RAVING about my 23 mile long run in the rain, and then the kickass half marathon race the weekend after? Yeah, I think that might have been my peak...] I'm not really sure what the remedy for that is.  I have been re-reading Hudson's book and he says the main reason for an early peak is too much race-pace running for too long - that that kind of running should really be limited to the 4 weeks of sharpening before the race.  That doesn't seem to be the culprit in my case though, since really my race pace workouts were limited to that time frame. Maybe I needed a less drastic taper...who knows. Running, especially marathon running, is one big grand experiment.

Anyway, the next couple months are going to be pretty much a maintenance phase.  No workouts, just base mileage hopefully staying in the high 30s-40s, and working my long run up to at least 12-13 miles or so. I am actually planning on jumping in a 5K in the next couple of weeks just for fun and because it's been forever since I've raced a 5K.  My current plan is the Mystic River Herring Run - celebrate the return of the herring! Haha.  It's funny, 2 weeks doesn't really seem like a long time post race, but it feels like it's been FOREVER. Like I hardly feel like Boston ever even happened.  So I am a little gung ho now to get out and go have a race that isn't a death march...I think a 5K is a good place to make that happen. :)

Yeah...this is a pretty boring post haha. Seriously, I am just not as interesting when I'm not in training. We did have an exciting water main burst here in Boston that has left the entire city without clean drinking water...actually, the stuff running through our pipes now is partially coming out of my favorite Chestnut Hill Reservoir, which might be a gorgeous place to run, but with all the fish, birds, and muskrats that hang out in there...probably not so awesome to drink.  Yesterday I did an easy 7.5 miles - longest run since the marathon - around the reservoir and it was weird seeing the spots where the water was bubbling and getting sucked out. Apparently things are supposed to be back to normal within 48 hours...I sure hope so!

2 comments:

a said...

Sounds like a good plan. I STILL don't understand how to peak. Let me know if you figure it out.

Anonymous said...

i ran about the same april miles as you too :)

good call with maintenance right now. i'm trying to get comfy with the idea of NOT training for something or jumping right back into the swing of things.