A second day of rest for me. I am hitting the brake a little harder and decided to pull the trigger on week 2 for now.
Most recovery departments were still on alert yesterday even after a day off and I decided to first get my act together before tackling the build-up again.
Of course I am looking for reasons why this happened to me. The program is based on the previous base level test and I am falling apart already in the 2nd week? This cannot be right. At this stage I find it actually hard to believe that I completed the test the way I did.
Running 10 days in a row should not kill me (although I am not fully comfortable with daily running yet). But maybe overachieving in the 1st week combined with a 5k PB did?
Whatever it was, I did not recover enough to keep the training up. I'll take it easy the rest of the week and start the 2nd week schedule on Monday again with a focus on not running faster than needed. If I manage it ok, fine. If I don't I have to reassess the whole plan. That likely means including rest days and easier paces in general.
I was wondering, is recovery a linear process? If not how is it sloping? Will the amount of recovery activity decrease or increase over time? One scenario could be, the body is so tired that it recovers slowly at first and faster the more recovery sets in. Or it's exactly the other way round.
Linear:
1st day off 25% recovery (= 25%)
2nd day off 25% recovery (= 50%)
3rd day off 25% recovery (= 75%)
4th day off 25% recovery (= 100%)
Non-linear I:
1st day off 10% recovery (= 10%)
2nd day off 20% recovery (= 30%)
3rd day off 30% recovery (= 60%)
4th day off 40% recovery (= 100%)
Non-linear II:
1st day off 40% recovery (= 40%)
2nd day off 30% recovery (= 70%)
3rd day off 20% recovery (= 90%)
4th day off 10% recovery (= 100%)
About Me
- Ingo
- ... on my quest to become a more complete runner, or simply the best runner I can be.
Personal Bests
- 5k 17:43 (Oda Field Mar 2007)
- 10k 38:39 (in 2000)
- Half 1:23:01 (Shinjuku Jan 2007)
- Full 2:58:02 (Hamburg 2000)
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5 comments:
I'll take non-linear II, but it is a complete and utter guess.
I'd say the 5k PB in amongst the otherwise close to the wire training is probably what tipped you over edge. I am not really familiar enough with the formula used for calculating your build-up paces, but it just appeared from casual observation that all the paces seemed quite fast compared to my perception (used advisedly to indicate that I may be wrong) of what Lydiard training is about. I'd have thought there would be some longer slower runs, but I suppose they come in further down the road. Anyway...good luck with the additional recovery.
My guess is that the 7 weeks build-up was just a tiny bit too hard. Not enough to break you, but enough to send you right to the edge, and that 5k might have been the final straw.
Ingo, I'm going to play devil's advocate here and tell you to run, but slowly. I like your four points of recovery, but unless your leg is hurting more than you let on I think you need to try to get out there and put the time in to establish a pattern of running in your life. If you cannot keep the paces, run slowly until you can (it will happen).
I tend to agree with Thomas about the build up perhaps being a little more than you could recover from and the 5K putting the nails in the coffin, but remember recovery isn't just about resting instead of running. Get to bed early, skip (or minimize) the beer for a bit, load up on the anti-oxidants, and make sure you're following a healthy diet. I'm not trying to turn you into a monk, but it looks like your running at these paces is going to take a pretty solid commitment that might require paying more attention to these little things.
I wish you continued good luck, and I have been impressed with what you've been able to do over the past two months (and I want to keep reading about more improvement).
Thanks gents for your comments! When I reread my own blog it looks like I never really came back from the time trial last week. Lucky me my early warning system went off in time! All of you basically say that the running so far might have been a little to hard and I would agree now.
Mike is mentioning an interesting point; my running life changed a lot but apart from that not muched else changed, i.e. I keep getting not enough sleep, still drink beer or wine almost every night, always start the day with a 'double tall latte' and a caramel doughnut...
Maybe that doesn't go too well with my recent training in the long run. I'll have to give this a few more thoughts but my current recovery deficits and occasional mood swings point already strongly into one direction.
Excellent point by Mike about the little things. For my best two marathons, from mid program on, maybe even earlier, running just about ruled my life. I thought about it constantly. I turned down office parties or went resentfully and did not drink: "Sorry, I have to get up and train tomorrow." I also paid a lot of attention to diet, gave up sweets, coffee and, believe it or not, beer (well, not 100%, but bloody close!!) After a training run I would pay a lot of attention to recovery nutrition. My favourite is a banana smoothie with an egg or two as soon after the run as possible - replace carbs but in the presence of protein. And whenever I had to get up at 5 or 5:30 to train, I would be furious if I couldn't get to bed by 10:00. All these things add up, and at least part of the reason for my less than stellar past three marathons is probably that I just wasn't able to maintain that level of obsessiveness for so long. But I certainly advocate you doing it if you truly want to find your potential.
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