Thursday, October 14, 2010

Steady Runs

I love my coach. I feel that he really listens to me about my personal goals and creates training plans and offers encouragement to help me reach those goals. During my last training cycle, for a Half Marathon, he respected my desire to finish strong, pain-free, and happy at whatever pace I found could achieve that. He gave other runners pace targets for the occasional steady or tempo run, but let me run by feel.

Fast forward to this training cycle. When I was talking to him about my upcoming 10K, I explained that it's a distance that I really struggle with. Too short to justify running easy. Too far for me to sustain running hard. I've never felt good about this particular distance, and it shows in my finish times.

One of the things that he brought to my attention is that I've never trained for a 10K before. I've trained for HMs, then run a 10K (too slow). I've trained for 5Ks/sprint triathlons then run a 10K (crash and burn). I've even showed up relatively untrained, then run a 10K (train wreck). It's no wonder my finish times are all over the map.

But this time I'm actually training specifically for a 10K. And with that, I find today scheduled to be the first of several 'steady' runs before the race. Which means I'm supposed to run at a prescribed pace. A pace, I might add, that looks scary fast to me. Gulp.

Of course, my immediate reaction was "I can't do this!" My next thought was that since I ran a virtual 10K as part of my 7 miler last weekend, I'll count THAT run as my steady run, and cop out and run easy today.

But then I came full circle. I'm ready to try this. And since I think my best chance of success for this steady run will be to run with the group, that's my plan for the day. I may not hit the prescribed pace, but I'm going to give it an honest try. Wish me luck!

[Updated to add: I hit the prescribed pace window for 2 of the 4 miles that I ran. Missed it on the other two miles. While certainly not a perfect result, I am satisfied. Gotta' remember that this training cycle is a work in progress; race is still a few weeks away.]

17 comments:

  1. good luck, it is just so amazing how much of it is all mental ....and what our minds do....i can't NEEDS to be taken out of our vocab...I CAN....

    ReplyDelete
  2. Good Luck! Truly and honestly 'trying' is sometimes the hardest part.
    Rock it....

    ReplyDelete
  3. Did you read Steve Stenzel's stuff about his sub-60 min 10 miler? Sometimes, you just need somebody to tell you, go do this. If you crash and burn, you are still going to learn a lot.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Good luck!!! I am predicting a victory for you on this one.

    ReplyDelete
  5. And that is why he is such a great coach! He knows what you're capable of, listens to you and makes sure you achieve the goals you set before you... even if the training is a little scary. :) You will do great girl just believe in yourself!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I've never trained specifically for a 10K either. I've just thrown it in the mix with other races. I'm hoping the training works out well for you and you kick some serious booty! Sounds like you've got a great coach!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Good luck! Take it a mile at a time and you CAN do it! Go get that 10K PR!!

    ReplyDelete
  8. great post Lisa, I'm running a 10K on Sunday, but am treating it as a long run in my speed training for my 5k schedule.

    I like the reasoning you put forward (and the differences) in the half and the 10k.

    ReplyDelete
  9. You can do this!! It'll be worth it for sure. I trained for a 10k once and did alright..just needed to push myself more. Good Luck!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Ooooh sounds like a great challenge! Good luck!

    ReplyDelete
  11. You can definitely do this, good luck! I think training specifically for the 10k wil make a huge difference, very wise. Have a great weekend!

    ReplyDelete
  12. It's funny how we get trapped in the game of expecting to able to do something "acceptably" when we're not specifically training for it... and often we don't realise we fallen into the trap!!

    Sounds like you've had a good start to your 10k race target!! :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Good luck to you Lisa! You can totally do this:)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Well done! It's hard for a coach to always find the right balance between gentle encouragement and a bit of a more assertive push. It's an art form and if you found a coach who's got that ... hold on to him! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  15. Oh, and my old school teacher always said in reply to "I can't do this": "You can't do it, YET" :-)

    ReplyDelete