running: the dawn

I can tell that it is the end of the week because of the tension I feel between my shoulder blades.  All in all, I feel 100% better about this week then last.

This week’s workouts:
Sunday: Insanity & 6 miles
Monday: Insanity & Jazzercise
Tuesday: Insanity & Jazzercise
Wednesday: Insanity & 4 miles
Thursday: Insanity & Jazzercise
Friday: Insanity & 5 miles

Total Miles: 15

I am happy to report that I felt no pain or tightness behind my knee on my run today.  I’m pretty sure that it was just a result of a super tight hamstring.  I’ve been stretching that out at every opportunity.  Another suggestion was that maybe something I’m doing has slightly changed my stride (thanks ERG at Elkton Runner!) and that got me to thinking.  The only thing that I did differently on that run was consciously hold my pace in the prescribed “recovery” zone of 9:30-10:00 minutes per mile.  Since I’ve gotten used to running at a faster pace I started to wonder if that would have changed my stride enough to effect my knee.  I’m not completely sure, but I decided to not restrain myself as much when I went running today and it felt much better.  Hmmm…I’ll have to see what that means going forward with my recovery pace…

I watched an interesting video today from Marathon Nation: Marathon Nation: Post Race Analysis. Basically he lays out a way to try to be objective about your “marathon story” so that you can learn and improve your racing techniques.  He describes how we all tend to “fill in the gaps” in our race story.  As we tell our story over and over again it becomes similar to a work of fiction with the highs and lows dramatized for effect.  Then we end up with a useless tale that doesn’t really help us to move forward or make the improvements in our training and racing.

He suggests that you write out each mile starting with mile 6 (because 1-5 are where you warm up, go too fast/slow, still feel the adrenaline) along with the split and the elevation information for the course.  Then add anecdotal information like where you took gels/water/sports drink, where you felt a head wind, etc.  Then you can more objectively see how the elements effected your pace.  You can identify trouble spots and see what else was going on to try to overcome that same lull in your pace during the next race.

And so I did, I mean that’s why I have a Garmin and all the stats that go with it, right?  But first a couple things.  I’m actually mad that I didn’t turn off the auto lap.  Since Garmins are always a little off the course mile markers I don’t like that my splits aren’t lined up with the actual miles.  Note to self: self-lap during the next race.  Then I struggle to find enough range in my mile times.  My slowest mile was 8:30, and my fastest mile (not including the kick during the last mile) was 8:14.  That’s only a 16 second difference.  Still, it has been interesting to me to write out my marathon like a timeline.  To see it all together actually helps me feel more connected to the race and what happened that day.  It’s an awesome exercise for anyone who has finished their fall marathon and has lingering questions or frustrations with their race.

Happy Weekend!  And good luck to everyone racing!