Room for Improvement

The post-marathon period has nearly come and gone. I’ve rested, relaxed, and gained some weight, and now I’m feeling ready to embark on yet another block of training.

Since I’ve had some spare time, I’ve been pondering my future in the great sport of distance running. That sounds a little overly dramatic. And I guess it is. For me, at least, hobbies are way more fun if I take them really, really seriously. Like too seriously. Consciously I may know that my times will never qualify me for a national team, or win a major race, but I get a ton of enjoyment out of training as if they someday will. Even if they won’t.

And overall my goal is just to continue improving. I had a really rough couple of years running-wise right out of college, but now that I’ve sorted everything out, the last two years have seen steady (if unspectacular at times) drops in my bests at most distances. I’m now fast enough to win most local races as long as no one studly shows up. It’s fun.

Look! I won a 5k in 16:37! YAY!

But as I said, the most fun I have is in treating my training like it’s obnoxiously important. So while I’m sure I could continue to knock out 15ish minute 5ks and high 2:20s marathons for a few more years, I feel a deep, compelling need to come up with an aggressive, borderline crazy scheme to reach “the next level”.

What does that mean? I don’t know. The fact of the matter is, no matter how much we might wish it weren’t so, every person has a limit to their potential. And I get incredibly annoyed when I hear someone talking about how they’re “training for the Olympic Trials” when they have yet to come within 10 minutes of the qualifying time. External goals are nice, and no, I would never bite someone’s head off for having a (borderline delusional) dream that they’re working towards, but the fact of the matter is that I sincerely doubt I could EVER run a 2:19 marathon. That’s 5:18 per mile. This year marks the first time in my life that I legitimately thought I could run a half marathon at that pace. And I have yet to actually do it. And even then, that puts me about as close to the Trials as Ryan Hall is to a sub 2 hour marathon. Which is to say, roughly a bajillion miles away.

This is me running a 32:14 10k.  But guess what? That's
only 2:16 marathon pace. Yikes!

So no, I will not declare my intention to qualify for the 2016 Olympic Trials Marathon. But, I do find myself wondering, if I wanted to continue dropping 2-3 minutes from my marathon PR each time out, what would I have to do? So I made a list.

1. Supplemental work. Yep, all that stuff I always intend to do each season but then totally forget about once I start running more. There are pictures of me at Grandma’s, and while I’m running pretty fast (5:30-5:40 pace), I’ve got limbs splaying out in all different directions, and I’m just generally conveying a sense of wild inefficiency. Like someone dropped a nice fuel efficient turbo diesel into an Amish horse drawn buggy. It looks like a wheel is going to fall off. Running is primarily governed by metabolic performance, but at some point, mechanical efficiency can limit your ability to run a certain time. Which brings me to my next point...

2. More speed. I am, by nature, slow as balls. That’s a technical term, but in layman’s terms it means that my 5k pace, for example, is frighteningly close to my max speed. In order to PR in the 5k, I now have to run around 71 seconds per 400. Right now, I could maybe do a single 400 in 60-61 seconds. In spikes. If I can regain some speed, then all slower paces should require less effort. If I’m going to eventually run a marathon at under 5:30 pace, that’s going to be a necessity.

This guy looks mighty efficient.  I wonder if he
can run under 60 for 400?

3. But not as necessary as... More mileage. Longer workouts. The same stuff I’ve been doing, but MORE. And FASTER. That may seem antithetical to #2, but as a great coach once said, the key in training is always to add, never to replace. At the end of the day, my endurance is still nothing to write home about. I would likely consistently beat someone like Desiree Davila in a 5k or a 10k, but thus far she would annihilate me in a marathon. No reason that should be the case, other than me not working hard enough yet. So rather than sticking more to my comfort zone of 110-115 miles per week, I’ll make a conscious effort to maintain mileage in the 120-130 range for at least 4-5 weeks of the fall. This may be item #3, but it’s the most important one. I have to keep up the 14-16 mile long workouts, and maybe extend them farther. Anything else I do, without also doing this, would be completely pointless.

Without enough fitness, this is what 5:50 pace
looks like at mile 24.   Ouch.

So here we go. Official training kicks off on Sunday. Time to get serious. Obnoxiously serious.