Sunday, March 15, 2009

Total crap..

which is how I have felt the past few days (week?). This is a rest week (65 miles) and I ended it feeling worse than ever. If I had raced this morning it would have been exactly the wrong way to start off my year, 6:00 pace would have been a struggle and it would have only crushed my already fragile confidence in myself. I ended up jogging very easy for an hour, at the end my glutes were tightening up and my energy had bottomed out (both puns intended). I'm not sure where to go from here.

11 comments:

GZ said...

Where to go from here ... to get up, dust yourself off, keep at it, realizing there are good days and bad days, good weeks and bad weeks, times when your fitness appears to be cycling up, others where it appears to be drilling down -- but it is all part of the process.

I for one appreciate the honesty in this post. I think we all have days and weeks like this but we often don't hear about them ... because we don't want to show this sort of stuff.

Keep at it ... marathon rule one: Consistency.

Lucho said...

Thanks GZ.

Anonymous said...

I know that you know this, but changing the way that you train is always going to knock you around a bit. Your recent move to the top of Everest, new coach and sprint till you die hill sessions would put most people in the ground. Stay the course, allow yourself to adapt and you'll be in the front on race day. Craig Greenslit

Anonymous said...

Tim,

Sorry you didn't race, I was looking for you at the finish.

Brett said...

I haven't been around here that long, but have seen you come through these times before here and there.

Someone (David Horton?) said 'it never always gets worse'.

Justin Mock said...

I know some of the variables have changed, but I'd get back to what's worked for you in the past - mileage. When coming back from a break, I like to just bury myself under mileage for a month or so and the fitness comes back around eventually.

Lucho said...

Ya Justin, I agree. High mileage is where I feel the best. My departure from that has been an attempt at trying something new to hopefully break through my poor racing history.. big fat load of good that did! I didn't even start the race this time. I think I need to try to collaborate WITH my coach rather than be coached.
I think high mileage is very effective for some. It's also less risky than high intensity for some. I wonder though if my response to the high intensity shows a weakness that can purged? I think if an athlete is weak in an area then that should be the focus of the training first.
Were you happy with your race? I thought you would run faster based on the Saturday workout we did. Tired?
T

Justin Mock said...

On the high intensity stuff - yeah this winter is really the first time that I've done consistent speedwork. Definitely agree that it's something to include especially when that's your weakness, but I think you've just to find that mix where you're not completely sacrificing the mileage for the sake of speed.

On the race, the course was Garmin'd by a few people at 4.25 miles, so that would have me at 5:27 pace. I thought 5:20 pace would've been a realistic goal. I feel okay with how I raced then, not bad, not great. I was rested and definitely not tired, but really felt like throwing up the whole race. 5:30 pace and under is hard work, that pace is still a little foreign to me, and my whole body felt it, especially on that course. Relative to the competition, I beat a few that I wanted to and should have, but let a few others that I'd hoped to have been closer to get away a bit. I'm satisfied I guess then.

Brett said...

http://mattfitzgerald.org/blog/?p=256

Is this guy your alter ego? He seems to post the same things you are posting about or going through at the same time...

Lucho said...

Matt usually calls me before his workouts to see what I'm going to wear. He's always been envious of my writing too, kind of annoying.

Lucho said...

Damn Brett, good call. Sounds almost like a twin. But he's better looking. And writes much better. And has different parents... I assume. So not really like a twin. Just someone that took the same wrong turn.