I don’t normally make resolutions, but I find that with running, having some clear goals really helps me stay focused.
Here’s what I want to have achieved by the time 2014 comes along:
8:45 for 3000m (1.50% improvement)
My current best is 8:53, set in June this year. A one second per lap improvement will see me achieve this one. Given where I was at the start of 2012 and where I am now I think this is possible. After my spring half marathon I will dedicate time to improving my speed, and do sessions of long reps at target pace (70 per lap) and hopefully this one should fall in June or July.
15:15 for 5000m/5km (1.72%)
I ran 15:32 twice this year, which is one second slower than my best time for the distance. If I beat this it is more likely to happen on the road, as I only get about 2 opportunities for a 5k track race every year. Last summer a friend set us a programme which involved running a high-volume session every week at 3k or 5k target pace, which seemed to really work for me. I plan to do the same sessions again but quicker. It all sounds so simple!
31:59 for 10km (1.18%)
Last week I set a PB of 32:22 after a good block of training. Now I want to run quicker. I can definitely manage this, if not in the spring then in the Autumn. I have a couple of races in mind where I will have a go.
69:59 for half marathon (1.13%)
This one’s more likely to happen later in the year when I hope to run a half on a flat course. Of all the ones listed here it is the one I want the most, mainly because it starts with a different number and therefore automatically sounds more impressive. It’s 5:20 per mile or 3:19 per km. I managed 9 miles at that pace in September; now let’s see if I can do it for the full distance. My current PB is 70:47.
Note: I calculated the percentages after writing the post. It is interesting to see the difference between what I feel is more difficult and what the numbers actually say.
In part 1, I looked at the different ways in which people record their training. In this post I will tell you about how I’m going to change the way I record mine.
I will still use this site for storing all of my training logs and will continue to post regular training summaries but these summaries will no longer show my annual mileage to date. The main reason for this is that I don’t want to get obsessed with hitting certain numbers by certain points of the year. It’s nice to know when I’ve passed 1000 miles, 2000 miles and so on but it isn’t really the point. This year I will probably end up running just short of last year’s total but have run quicker over just about every distance, the exception being 5k (I ran one second slower than my PB). Mileage serves a purpose but I want to do everything I can to encourage a quality-over-quantity approach. I will check every couple of months and at the end of the year but I’m not going to worry about it any more.
The second change is that from the 1st of January I am going metric. I have a friend who trains in metric and I’ve decided to do the same. The reasons are similar to those listed above. Although I know how to divide by 1.609 (and have in fact become quite good at it), this should stop me comparing myself to the me of one year ago. I also tend to get hung up on certain numbers; I like 70 miles per week because it is 10 miles per day, 90 miles sounds good because it’s near the upper end of my range. Hopefully that will stop now. Besides, it’s easier to put 100 in your training log if you’re doing ks and not miles. And it’s more logical.
So, a couple of changes to how I log my miles, sorry, kilometres. I just need to remember now that it’s how you run them, not how you record them, that matters most.
coming soon to this blog… running targets for 2013
Regular readers of this blog will know that I record my mileage on this very site, and usually post a weekly training summary too. Most of the time I don’t write much about my runs, unless something significant happens that I would like to be able to recall in years to come. But mine isn’t the only way of doing it. This post examines some of the other ways that my training partners record their training.
#1: The old school book.
In case you don’t know whether that’s old-school book or old school-book, don’t worry; I don’t know either but they amount to the same thing. Last year I witnessed the training logs of my friend Rob who was a very good middle distance runner in his day. There was something very charming about the hand written scribbles that denoted the runs he had done. This way of recording your training allows the athlete to record splits, distances and comments in whatever way he or she likes, and adds an air of authenticity to the training log. You can use any type of book you like, but the purist will always go for a blank notebook.
#2: In various places
This is another well known method of recording your training. My friend Mark has his training written down in books, word documents and spreadsheets and he informs me that he is currently in the process of standardising over a decade’s worth of logs to the same format. I look forward to seeing them.
#3: The ridiculously complicated spreadsheet
Another of the guys I train with does this. Tim sent me the latest version of his spreadsheet recently and it really is a thing of beauty. It contains details of every run he has ever done, every race he has ever completed as well as every run that he plans to do for the next year. The training plans are the best bit, colour coded according to the type of training to be done – blue for lactate threshold, orange for long runs, yellow for intervals, dark green for weights and conditioning… That’s about half of them. It also has a PBs page, where as well as times for standard distances you can also see how fast Tim ran for less common events. This is useful if you ever forget how fast you ran for 4.2 miles back in 2007, or if you’re struggling to remember what your beer mile PB is. I also like the mileage graphs which tell you what proportion of each week was spent doing different types of running. The ridiculously complicated spreadsheet is a sight to behold. I hope he has it backed up.
#4: Not recording your training at all
Another good friend of mine does this. I can see how it might be liberating but there’s no way I’m trying it.
Something awesome happened this weekend. My friend and training partner Dan took well over a minute off his personal best time for 10k. His stated aim before the race was to break 34 and he absolutely smashed it, going through half way in 16:30 and nearly skipping the 33s altogether to record a time of 33:03. Dan, the Sergei Bubka of the local running scene, had been telling me the previous Tuesday how he only tends to improve by very small margins, citing his 4 minutes in 4 marathons as evidence. This has proven not to be the case.
Dan’s story is inspiring and is proof, if any is needed, of the value of sheer hard work and graft. Dan trains hard and puts the miles in and in the last few months his approach to training has really started to pay off. In September he ran his fastest marathon ever, in October he ran his fastest half marathon ever and in November he made a mockery of his former 10k PB. I predict a quick 5k before 2012 comes to an end.
This also tells me that I need to reprogram my brain and consider carefully what is possible. If someone I train with can break their PB by so much, why can’t I? I need to aim higher and Dan’s performance is just the spur I need. No more conservative goals. No more messing around. Sub 32 here I come.
This week I have been off work and have spent my time running, sleeping, relaxing and catching up with season 16 of South Park on a website that may or may not be legal.
I also raced cross country for my club in the National Relays, and after a pretty mediocre performance reminded myself of the words of South Park’s very own Eric Cartman: “I’m Seriously.” You see, I just find it hard to train seriously for cross country. I can’t remember ever having tapered for a cross country race, nor can I remember a time when I’ve really gone for it and fully committed to a race on grass and mud. I tend to view them as good training for road races rather than something to be taken seriously in their own right.
My latest half-arsed attempt at a taper consisted of a tempo run on Tuesday, a track session on Thursday and the highest mileage I’ve logged in a week since my last marathon. No wonder I ran poorly. Despite this I had far too much left in the tank in the last few hundred metres, a consequence of starting off too conservatively and not attacking the race from the gun.
So, was it the chicken or the egg? Am I a relatively weak cross country runner because I don’t take it seriously or do I not take it seriously because I feel I’m no good at it? Probably both, but my instinct is the former. If I’m going to do well at cross country and not get beaten my people who I can beat on the road and track, I probably ought to start training earlier, do more long reps on grass and mud, do more hill sessions and actually get some rest before the race.
Despite the first league race being six days away now, I still can’t see that happening just yet. Seriously.