Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Trash the Training Plan {Tuesday}

...or something like that. 
This past month I've been battling a respiratory virus and missing tons of workouts. 
 Most of last week was spent in West Virginia (Jay's grandfather passed away on Saturday, we arrived that afternoon and stayed through the funeral on Wednesday.)
 
 
Tuesday: 4.25 miles
Thursday: 3 miles
Saturday: 13 miles
Sunday: 6 miles (with my Ragnar team)
Monday: 3.25 miles
 
I'm ready for a break, which seems odd since this sickness kinda-sorta-not really gave me a break.  I'm overwhelmed with the pressure of a training plan and proposed training paces.
As a result, my runs are miserable and I dread them.
 
I can't give up all together - October is a busy month for me.
Iron Horse Half Marathon - October 13th
Moonshine Run (3.2) - October 19th
Ragnar Tennessee - October 25-26th
 
More than a month before I can throw up my hands and quit. 
The thing is, I'm not sure I really want to quit. 
Probably more like just forget about the pressure. 
Here's the new plan what I'm going to do:
Forget about the plan.  Forget about speed work.  Forget about pace.
Keep my mileage up with lots of easy runs, including 2 more 12-14 mile runs.
 
If by November, I don't love running again, I'll take a break.  A real one.  A long one.  Who knows, maybe I'll get skinny when I don't constantly have the rungries?
 

3 comments:

  1. I like a break from the training plan and you've been training hard this year! A break will hopefully do you some good, and you can come back and love, love, love training plans again. ;)

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  2. Sorry to hear about Jay's Grandpa.
    I bet a break would let you start to enjoy running again - then again, I've never enjoyed it and I'm always on a break! :)

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  3. I'm obviously not an expert runner, but in my experience when you're slave to a plan it can start to hurt you more than it helps you. Hope you have the endurance to get through the next month and then figure out if running the way you have been is something you want to continue!

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