September and October have brought about a number of obstacles in my recovery. I plan on posting a summary of my workouts to date within the next few days. In the meantime, I need to address the question posed to me this morning of Quantity vs. Quality.
Sometime during my college years I fell into the addictive trap of adding on more and more miles. Who doesn't love running long? It feels great, it's rewarding,
relatively easy, and gives a great feeling of superiority weather you're willing to admit it or not. It's addictive. You can easily support your need for high mileage by pointing to Kenyans, Ethiopians, the great European Middle and Long distance runners of the 20
th century- Even great current runners like Ryan Hall, Paula Radcliffe, Kara
Goucher,- the list goes on and on.
But Runners BREAK. DOWN. Even my
Haile has had to undergo Achilles
tendon surgery, and is currently again fighting injury. On one hand, it goes with the sport, on the other hand, it challenges our tendons, so slow to adapt, by asking how much they can do and still recover.
My coach put his foot down this morning, insisting that as long as I'm following his program, we back off the miles. He wants to cut my mileage by 20%. He proposed that we keep it low for now at least, between 60-65
mpw- and seriously zero in on quality speed work. He wants the running each day to cut back to 70 minutes. It
doesn't matter how that 70 minutes is run, whether its 21 in the morning and 49 at night, or all at once. Its the time spent on my feet that matters to him.
It's not that this is a new concept to me, by any stretch of the imagination. It's just that its so less appealing to me than the fun of gobbling up more and more miles, and constantly surprising myself as the weekly total creeps higher and higher. He promises me that I'll be working so hard however, that I'll be needing to schedule in a two hour nap each day. Screw the nap. I want my miles! I want my distance!
But, I also want to run healthy, and I really want to run fast. So, reluctantly, I have to change my mindset. The plan is to quickly rehab the tendons in my right foot and get back on track, focusing on gearing up for a 5k focus next year.
For now, he would like the miles to stay low- around 65. Most of my running will be done in flats, as we've done for the last few weeks. Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday will be speed sessions/track workouts. Wednesdays will be a medium run, and eventually Sunday will be a "long run." I doubt he means the type of long run I did when I was younger, ( 23- 30 miles) but hey, I'll take whatever long run I can get my little hands on.
The main point? QUALITY QUALITY QUALITY. Anyone can run 120
mpw. Its easy. But it also makes way for lots of injuries. When we move up to the marathon, we'll increase the miles- but for the next few years the focus will be on Speed and the 5k, and keeping the mileage steady. I did pull the
Lydiard card- pointing out that
couldn't we just do 8-10 weeks of high mileage in a base phase??!?!?!?! But I'll have to keep that in my back pocket until we get my legs healthy and come out of the current Recovery Session.
Updated training coming soon.....
