Well, I thought I had a good running month until I went outside Sunday for a run. But that's April and I want to recap March so I'm going back to how I felt on Saturday when the month wrapped up. I slowly increased my mileage which wasn't too hard to do considering I missed a week of running in February due to food poisoning. I did have some difficulty this month with my back but it didn't throw off my schedule too much. While I could have increased my mileage a bit more, I opted for more intense speed workouts instead.
The other day, I shared with you the books I read in March. Included in that review was the self-improvement book You Are A Badass. Here's a quote from that book:
"So often, we pretend we've made a decision, when what we've really done is signed up to try until it gets too uncomfortable."
An IG runner recently doled out the following piece of advice: On days you don't feel like running, just go out for a mile. If you still don't feel like running after that, try again another day. I completely disagree with this because if most people followed it, they'd never run more than a few miles each week. They'd never reach any goals, unless their goal is to run a mile. In my opinion, this is not good advice. Yes, we all have bad days, days when we're sick and can't run, etc. but this just gives you an automatic excuse. I just wasn't feeling it today.
Before I jump on the treadmill or head outside for a run, I have a goal in mind. That goal always has a specific mileage attached to it. For example, "I'm going to run 3 miles today." Sometimes I go over that mileage and that's okay. It's rare for me to not reach my goal. Part of this has to do with making realistic goals. It's more difficult for me to make specific goals surrounding speed as that is not as easy for me to control unless I'm on the treadmill. But I do my best. I have "easy" runs where I run at a comfortable speed. There are runs that include specific types of speedwork. Or days when I want my run to be faster. If I were to say, "Hey, I'll see how I feel after a mile," I know I wouldn't be where I am now. Set a goal and stick to it.
Total mileage for the month - 50 miles
Subtotal for 2018 - 121.5 miles
3/01 - 2.75 miles
3/03 - 4 miles
3/05 - 3.25 (speedwork)
3/07 - Pulled back muscle
3/08 - 3 miles (speed intervals)
3/09 - Tap class
3/10 - 2 miles
3/11 - 4 miles
3/13 - 3.75 miles (speedwork)
3/15 - 3 miles (speed intervals)
3/16 - Tap class
3/17 - Back problems again
3/18 - 4.5 miles
3/20 - 3.25 (speedwork)
3/22 - 3 miles (speed intervals)
3/23 - Tap class
3/25 - 4.5 miles
3/27 - 3.5 miles (speedwork)
3/29 - 3.5 miles (speed intervals)
3/30 - Tap class
3/31 - 2 miles
To see my recap for February, click here.
2 comments:
Well done!
I agree with you about specific goals, though I see what the IGer may have been getting at. But if your goals are realistic and your plan is realistic, it should be easier to stick to what you set.
One of the reasons I love the training plan I'm following for my marathon (and the plans that I followed for the last several halfs from the same person) is that the weekday maintenance runs are time-based instead of mileage-based (long runs are mileage-based). As a slower runner, it's easier for me to stick to those time goals knowing that even if I'm having an off day that it's still "only 30 minutes" or whatever it is since "3 miles" or "5 miles" could range greatly in time for me.
But then, when it comes to the long runs, I have to stick to that distance goal in order to hit my ultimate goal (which is crossing the marathon finish line in June... even if I'm the slowest one out there, which hopefully won't be the case).
That sounds like an interesting training plan. Sometimes I do runs based on time but I'm usually so obsessed with mileage I tend to stick to that as a goal.
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