Road to Boston

I always have trouble keeping it slower! Yesterday was a recovery run, and I tried to imagine running in water, running with weights on my ankles, all kinds of tricks. By mile 3, I was able to achieve about 9:30. I think running easy miles easy is my biggest training challenge.

lol . . .well, I do have to laugh because running slowly has really NEVER been an issue before for me. I have been running plenty slow (10 min/mi plus) for YEARS. So I'm a little unclear as to why all of the sudden I am going faster than I should be . . .

I love your visualization ideas! I think I just need to tell myself it is okay to run slow. For some reason, because I know I need to hit a marathon pace of 8:50 mi/min, I feel a need to train close to that . . .but everyone's advice seems to say I don't need to. So I need to take the advice of the experienced folks!!

You might be getting more fit. If you find yourself recovering from sub-9:00 fine, then just keep running it. I would, however, do something like this on those "on" days. Warm up two-three miles at whatever pace is happening naturally. Then run a mile in 7:00 or faster. See if you can first of all, and second, see what pace you are naturally choosing after that effort. If you are going back to something close to what you started out with, it means you are more fit, and it is OK to run all of your mileage that fast. If not, it means you were superficially wired/wound up (sometimes the energy floats to the surface when it should not) , so you should slow down.

Sasha,

Thanks so much for the ongoing advice.

First, I must say that your idea of running the same, longer distance daily has been a godsend for me. My long runs seem so much more doable and easy when I'm doing these moderately long distances daily as opposed to doing mostly shorter runs. I know my endurance is much improved.

I haven't been feeling as "speedy" as of late. I think I had some stressful things going on that were making me run harder. So now, I feel more settled. But if it happens more, I'll give what you suggest a shot - - though I'm not even sure I CAN run a mile as fast as you suggest.

When you have a moment, can you please tell me what I should be doing once I reach the 60 miles per week mark? I'm very close now. I'm pretty worried that I won't have the speed I need if I don't at least try to run faster some of the time. Please advise!!

Anita:

The concept of "speed" is relative. E.g if all you want to do is run 3:40 marathon you have plenty of speed, failure to do so would come from the lack of endurance. If you want to run 3:10, then I do not know if you have the speed, you may, you may not, and in case you do not, then you would need to work on it. But speed is something that is very difficult to improve. Fortunately, endurance is not, so you can progress in the marathon a lot by working on endurance.

Once you get to 60 miles a week, get comfortable with this volume. Hold it for a while. Get used to it. Even after you get used to it, wait until you stop improving in the 5 K before you start to think about speed. No need to work harder if you are still improving off the current load. If you are improving, it means the current load provides adequate stimulus. If you increase it even more, it might be too much. Like when you are happy with the volume of your radio - if you turn the knob you might hear a little better, but chances are it will be just too loud. Once you stop improving you need an increase in training stimulus - either up the mileage or add speed work.

It is not surprising that you do not feel as hyper in your runs. When the volume increases, you do not feel as anxious to run fast, but you can once you put your mind to it. When I am out of shape, I get out of the house and want to run 6:40 pace. But I have a hard time holding 6:00. When I am in shape, I get out of the house and it takes me a mile before I want to run 8:00. Then it takes me another 3 miles before I want to run 7:00. But once I decide to go, I have no problem holding 5:30. I am not sure about the physiology behind it, but I see it as a good sign.