The thing about goals

by Corey on January 12, 2012

Making resolutions at the beginning of every new year has never really worked out all that well for me.

If I’m going to make a change and try to better myself, the fact that the calendar changes and a new year begins is probably not going to motivate me to do it. Usually I write down a whole lot of things I want to change or do (couldn’t we all think of hundreds of things if we really tried?!) but the list gets overwhelming and then I don’t follow through with any of them.

Last year I kept it pretty simple and realistic with my 2011 running goals:

1. Beat my Boston 2010 time of 3:38. – done, by 5 minutes.

2. Sign up for more races (I only did 3 in 2010). – done, I think I did 7-ish in 2011.

3. Stretch after every run. – not yet every run, but getting much better.

4. Foam roll at least twice per week. - yes, for most of the year.

5. Pay more attention to what I eat and what works for me. – not really sure how to judge that one but maybe slight improvement.

I know those sound like pretty whimpy goals, but at the time of writing that post, I probably knew I wasn’t ready to committ to a PR goal. And at least those were little things, all of which I really wanted to do, and was pretty much able to accomplish them. I also knew I would be ending a job and starting school so from August to December I had no clue where I would be or what I would be doing.

I am almost surprised that I wasn’t tempted to set some kind of crazy running goal, but maybe in my head I was thinking I would judge how Boston training and the marathon went, see if I could finish un-injured and go from there. Obviously that didn’t happen and it just made me want a PR even more, but this year I think things will go much differently.

My expectations for myself at this time have changed, and my priorities are not what they were a year ago. I am demanding a lot of myself in terms of school and career, and running has become something that provides relief and precious alone time, not another category in which I need to perform.(Just to clarify, this doesn’t mean I’m not pushing myself or enjoy seeing the small improvements in my workouts – it just means that I’m pushing myself to the extent that I want to and not as a means of achieving a certain time goal).

I still have long-term visions for myself with running, and I think being 20-something with a handful of marathons done, it will be a perfect time to take at least a year off from intense running after Boston. (I’m not saying I will completely stop running, but definitely long distances.) There are also things going on with my health right now, that I’m not willing to share on the blog, that suggest a break is what I need.

So in 2012, my ‘goals’ are:

1. Finish my 2nd and 3rd semesters of grad school.

2. Have fun running Boston and accept what my body is able to do on that day.

3. Take a real break from running after Boston.

4. Accept that I am still learning and take each day one at a time.

That’s it.

In reading everyone else’s goals for 2012, it is hard to not compare or feel like I’m falling behind, but I know that these goals are what’s right for me right now, and that I have plenty of time to accomplish my long-term visions for myself as a runner. Sometimes short-term breaks are necessary to move forward long term.

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I also wanted to share that Vega recently sent me some products from their new Sport Performance System.

Out of what they sent me, my favorites were…

The chocolate and vanilla Protein Performance

Performance Protein

The taste was better than most other protein powders I’ve tried, and the ingredient list is definitely a plus.

I also really liked the endurance gel & endurance bar: both reminded me of power bars/gels except I liked the taste and ingredients better.

I was not a huge fan of the recovery protein bars (definitely edible, but like most protein bars they tasted really chalky to me).

The only downside to these products is definitely the price. I don’t think I could see myself spending the money on them unless I found a good deal, but they are definitely worth checking out.

{ 9 comments }

Running means having patience

by Corey on January 7, 2012

If I’ve learned anything since running my fall marathon, it’s that  I need to have more patience with myself if I want to continue running.

I spent at least a month in a bad pattern of running too hard, getting the (still mysterious) pain behind my knee, and having to take a few days off from running. Finally I let myself cross-train more and run much less frequently and much more slowly. I also spent too long being frustrated that I couldn’t quite put into running what I wanted to, being in grad school full-time and working.

But now I really feel like my priorities are in the right place and the 2012 Boston Marathon is going to be all about fun for me, because that’s all I can really give to my running right now.

So when outlining my training for this year’s Boston, I decided to try something different that would also work with my busy schedule. I found an old Runner’s World Article (“The Less-is-More Marathon Plan“) and decided to modify this 16-week plan in the article. It’s called the Furman Institute of Running and Scientific Training (FIRST) marathon program.

The FIRST Training Plan
The FIRST marathon program includes three running workouts per week—a speed workout, a tempo run, and a long run. Here’s the full, 16-week marathon training program. Participants are also encouraged to cross-train for 40 to 45 minutes on two other days per week.
Week Tuesday
Speed		 Thursday
Tempo		 Saturday Long
1 8×400 meters 3 miles 10 miles
2 4x1200m 5 miles 12 miles
3 6x800m 7 miles 13 miles
4 3x1600m 3 miles 10 miles
5 10x400m 5 miles 14 miles
6 5x1200m 5 miles 15 miles
7 7x800m 8 miles 17 miles
8 3x1600m 10 miles 13 miles
9 12x400m 3 miles 18 miles
10 8x800m 5 miles 15 miles
11 4x1600m 8 miles 20 miles
12 12x400m 5 miles 15 miles
13 6x1200m 5 miles 20 miles
14 7x800m 4 miles 15 miles
15 3x1600m 8 miles 10 miles
16 30 min easy w 5x60s 20 min easy w 3 or 4 pickups Marathon
The FIRST Paces
The training paces recommended by the FIRST program are somewhat faster than those recommended by other training plans. Of course, with just three running days a week, you should be well rested for each workout. Here are the paces you’ll need to run, each expressed relative to your current 10-K race pace.
Long Run 10-K pace + 60 to 75 seconds/mile
Long Tempo 10-K + 30 to 35 seconds
Mid Tempo 10-K + 15 to 20 seconds
Short Tempo 10-K pace
1600m Repeats 10-K – 35 to 40 seconds
1200m Repeats 10-K – 40 to 45 seconds
800m Repeats 10-K – 45 to 50 seconds
400m Repeats 10-K – 55 to 60 seconds

The plan looks pretty simple – one speed workout, one tempo run, and one long run every week, plus at least 2 days of quality cross-training. I don’t plan to stick to the pacing suggestions rigidly – I think it would be way too ambitious for someone coming off of not doing any speed work and doing few miles in general. The article also explains the principles of this type of training, like the varying types of tempo runs and not making up for lost time in training.

I like that this plan will allow me to cross-train and continue the strength and injury-prevention exercises I’ve been doing. Last week when I did 10 miles I probably started out a bit too fast on some downhills and ended up feeling the pain in back of my knee the last few miles, so I’m not totally convinced that my body is back to normal yet. I think only running 3 days a week will be great for that though, giving me time in between runs to recover.

Running 3 days a week to train for a marathon is a little scary to me – it just doesn’t seem like enough. In the past I’ve always done 5-7 days per week of running, so this is a big change. But I don’t want to cross the threshold back into on/off injury, and I also need something realistic for me right now, and I think this is it. Hopefully the long runs will give me confidence that I’ll be able to finish my 7th marathon.

My running time goals will need to wait until after grad school (in 1.5 years) but that doesn’t mean I can’t still enjoy running to the fullest and push myself to the extent that I can and want to.

Now that the temperatures are finally feeling like winter, my motivation hasn’t exactly been at it’s peak, so I also wrote down some of my favorite running quotes that I can look at when I really don’t feel like going out for a run.

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I am a quote person – the ones that resonate with me tend to stick in my head when I’m running and remind me there is a purpose to what I’m doing.

In other fun news…I got a KitchenAid for Christmas, which hopefully means I will rediscover my love for baking!

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…and the first thing I made with it, appropriately enough, was a giant chocolate chip cookie, courtesy of this recipe.

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Any thoughts on the FIRST training program?

Any favorite running quotes?

{ 18 comments }

A Quick Update

December 28, 2011

I’ve been avoiding writing this post, because I really was not sure how to start. The last couple of months got pretty crazy in terms of my time, and blogging just went out the window. It’s sort of like running in that the more I do it, the more satisfying it is and the more [...]

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On Non-Achieving

November 6, 2011

It’s been a while since my last post. Hi again! I’ve missed blogging. I wish I could say the only reason I haven’t written anything lately is because I’m busy. That’s partially the reason, but the other part is that I just don’t know what to say. I haven’t been baking very much (and when [...]

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Turning it around

October 23, 2011

Maybe it’s one of the effects of grad school, or maybe it’s the fact that I’m exhausted, but I am just going to get straight to the point here… I am really struggling with my running relationship right now. I took 4 days off from running after the marathon before going for a 7 mile [...]

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Mixed Emotions

October 14, 2011

Besides having a toenail that is about to fall off and a gash in my foot where there used to be a blood blister, my body feels totally recovered from Sunday’s marathon. A few of you commented on my great attitude about my marathon, which I really appreciate. Although I’d be lying if I said [...]

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