Deep thoughts

So we finally had some of the cold settle in here this weekend that has been spreading over the north. It was chilly, but not too bad once you got out and got moving. Sunday was maybe 20 or so when I headed out, but the wind was blowing pretty hard (easily +15 feet on the loogie) so the wind chill was probably low teens or high single digits. I like running in the cold weather. I do swear by my new Hind tights though. I finally have a pair that fit me.

Saturday was a relatively easy 12.5 on a rolling trail in a park near me that I have to sneak into. It is restricted to town residents only and they ID cars coming in, but they don't bother with runners. It would be nice if it was a dirt path, but it is paved. In fact, this entire small park is slowly being overrun by public works workers with too much time on their hands to repave, cut down trees, and drive trucks all over the grass.

Sunday was a short run, and the park was deserted. It was fun to be out there in the middle of the day and have it be just as deserted as when I run at night. The cold wind had the branches of the trees just cracking together overhead and the grass was crunchy with that sort of flash-freeze that you get when you go from wet and soggy to pretty cold overnight.

I would like it if I had more variety in my local runs, and in particular if I had more places to run offroad. This park is one of the few places I can run to from my house that at least allows me to not have to worry about traffic and sidewalks.

Last week was 61 miles in 7 runs.

M: 7 easy in 1:01
Tu: 10 easy in 1:22
W: 10 in 1:13 (with a few in the 6:30s) with the Jenkintown Running Co
Th: 6 easy in 49:30
F: 9 in 1:10
Sat: 12.5 in 1:37
Sun: 6.6 in 50

Bigger Picture Stuff

It was a little bit of a setback over the weekend though since my shin started to act up a bit. Thursday and Friday I felt great - really the first 2 runs where I felt nothing the whole time. Saturday I had some soreness at the end of the run and Sunday was definitely sore, so I cut it short.

In an email exchange with the coach he offerred his perspective - that I am not doing a good job with recovery, and that is one of the harder things to get a good feel for.

I need to think more about how I deal with this and try to be more careful about scheduling real recovery time, even when I'm not feeling fatigued.

I think that I suffer from a confluence of factors here that I need to start to come to terms with:

- Overconfidence - I think that I overestimate my abilities to do *and recover from* workouts and the stress of miles. I think there are a number of factors behind this - inexperience is one, although that may just be an easy crutch to fall back on. Another piece of this may be that I do almost all my running alone - I don't really get to run and do workouts with more experienced runners and see up close how they govern their efforts.

- Seeing the forest for the trees - I think that I don't do a great job of trying to apply the training rules that I'm aware of to actual application of running. For example, in recoverying from this shin injury, I feel that I've been careful (especially since I originally hurt it by breaking this rule) to stop running when it hurts and only run up to that point. But along the way, I've parroted, but failed to apply, the 'in recovery, less is more' concept. The past few weeks have been 'more is more' since I would just keep running if there was no pain.

- Mileage and fatigue - I think that I've been (deliberately? - although I guess you can't really use the word deliberately if you feel the need to append a question mark to it) fooling myself about the fatigue that is generated by mileage, even given no pace workouts. Looking back at my log from early last when I was struggling with the cumulative effects of 40 mpw should give me some clue. Now, less than a year later, I would consider that sort of volume to be easy, or almost too light. But mentally, I have (had?) myself convinced that I could or should be running 50% more just as a recovery or maintenance week.



But looking at the overall growth of weekly mileage since I started running, I think there are some conclusions to be drawn here:



I think the trend line is too steep. In 2005 I averaged just under 11 miles per week, 2006 was almost 28 per week, and 2007 was just under 43. Following this growth line would have me averaging just under 60 per week in 2008, which would really mean typical weeks in the 70s and 80s.

I don't think I'm ready for that and more importantly, I don't think I want to do that. I have been very healthy on and raced extremely well on lower volumes. I just don't believe that to continue to improve in running I need to continue to increase my mileage at the current rate.

Compared to other runners I know, I don't think I chase particularly high mileage numbers, but I wonder if I have started to act as if past performance increase have been not only correlated with mileage increases, but solely caused by them. Writing that down, I certainly don't believe it, but looking at my log, I think you have to conclude that I have been acting like it.

So why do I do things that I don't believe I am doing?

That's a post for another day I suppose.