Not a runner

I probably never will be either. I'm just someone who runs. Using the FIRST training program has identified my main weakness as a lack of running endurance. The training paces in this program are calculated from your best times in a 5K and/or a 10K. The half-marathon training plan calls for a planned half-marathon pace (PHMP) of your 10K race pace plus twenty seconds per mile. For me this comes out to just under 7 minutes/mile, based on my last two 10K race finishes at 40:26 and 40:27. The program then specifies you add 20-30 seconds/mile to your PHMP for most of your weekly "long" runs. At this stage of the program, this would have me running 9-10 miles at a pace of 7:30 or better. Herein lies the problem.

Sunday's 9.7 mile run was the longest I've ever done in my life. In fact, until three weeks ago, I'd only run more than eight miles or so in a session just a couple of times, ever. I'm thinking whoever wrote these programs kind of assumed anyone running decent 10K times probably had a few more running miles in their legs than I do. Because my cardiovascular performance and endurance has been trained by years of bike racing, that part is easy for me, and I can suck up the leg pain for a short race and put in an OK time. My running legs just don't have the muscualar endurance to keep it up for an hour and a half, not yet anyway.

The good news is that endurance is the easiest thing to train, at least in cycling. If you can put the time in without getting injured, your endurance will improve. Endurance is very trainable. Almost anybody can complete a 100 mile bike ride, even people who are very young, very old, very fat, or whatever. Very few people can ride a 53 minute 40K, ride a 1:16 kilo or a 5:00 4000m pursuit, or run a 29 minute 5 miler. Not everyone will be able to do these things, no matter how hard they train. Getting fast is a lot tougher than building endurance. Hopefully, the same holds true for running. I may not get much faster, but I think so long as I can avoid injury, building endurance should be pretty simple.

Therefore, my job over the next few months shouldn't be too hard. So long as we don't have persistent snow cover, I should be able to get the weekly long runs prescribed by the FIRST program and improve my running endurance. So far so good. My recovery is improving. Yesterday's 9.7 miles on the trails took me 1:19, an 8:08 pace. Twenty to thirty seconds/mile slower than my target, but this was in the woods, so I don't think that was too bad. My tempo runs and speedwork sessions have been pretty much on target with what the program specifies. I'm taking advice from this article on the MAPP pages and mixing in hill runs in place of track sessions some of the time.

What's this have to do with not "being a runner?" The three day per week approach. Pure runners train five to seven days a week, sometimes more than once a day. I'm not sure why. I guess that when you're an athlete it's natural to get obsessed and keep training. But I'm really worried about getting injured. This is one of the reasons I've never taken running this seriously before. I have always viewed running as a casual winter pursuit to keep a few pounds off. Both of my knees have already had cartilage removed, and so I'd like to keep what I have left. I think the three day a week program with cross training on the alternate days is the key. The long run is really the only place where I'm stepping it up. Credit the blogs of the multi-sporters for my inspiration. A lot of these people put in very respectable running times, and from what I see avoid injury despite training schedules that border on being excessive. I think running requires too much recovery to be undertaken every day, at least for me. Mixing it up works, and I can afford to take a hit on my cycling performance this time of year because I am not competing.

Not everyone has the physical durability to withstand the training the elite athletes perform. Regardless of what your sport is, train smart. This means different things to different athletes. You can judge what it means to you. Keep those training blogs coming. Thanks for reading.