PM: 5k race, 16-something-awful, 9 miles total
Another week of the summer, another disappointing effort. Tonight I ran my slowest 5k in years, and on a fast course. The race went out quickly, and I hit the mile in 4:50 with plenty of company. But then, well...bummer.
Rather than bitch again about how I fell apart so horribly, I'm going to look at this a bit more analytically and objectively ("we can build on this"). In the last four summers in Maryland, I've run a fair amount of races in the months of June, July, and August. None of them have gone well. Twilighter in 2007 was OK. Peachtree this year was also just OK. Every other race I've run in that period has been so forgettable and well off the sort of times I throw down in other parts of the year. By the time fall racing comes around, I'm ready to go to battle.
I seem to race well during the winter, fall, and spring, but for some reason the summer seems to be my achilles heel. Why do you suppose this is? It's a two-part issue for me, and it's all related to the heat:
1.) Recovery
As previously mentioned, it's pretty damn hot during the summer. Last night was no exception with temperatures still in the 80s when Valerie and I were driving home. Training the way I tend to train, with a higher volume approach, tends to leave me needing a fair amount of recovery. In the cooler months, this doesn't seem to be a problem, but during the summer, I just feel trashed all of the time with the same amount of running workload. That this has happened to me four consecutive years leads me to believe that, hey, maybe there's something to this whole heat-related recovery nonsense.
2.) Acclimation
The one race I have run well at in the last four summers has been the Annapolis 10-Mile. It's helps that I've won this race; if I'd had my butt whipped there one or both years, then I perhaps wouldn't sing the same tune. Annapolis is at the very end of August, which I gives me the better part of three months to acclimate to the heat (it's just as hot there as any other race). For Peachtree this year, I ran in a sweatsuit on my shake-out runs to help acclimate to the heat. Though Peachtree was a lot cooler this year than in years past, I ran my best time on the course there this year. I have not run in the aforementioned sweatsuit since, and I have not raced well or put together a strong workout since.
A lot of my teammates at GRC have told me that they know I can run faster than I've been running lately. I tend to agree with them....just not during the summer. I've definitely learned from this, and next summer I'll most certainly race less frequently than I have in the last few years because at this point I almost think it's counterproductive. I may get physiological benefits from toeing the line in the heat, but running shitty races can't be good for my psyche, ego, or confidence.
Give me a few months, and once the weather gets a little cooler, I'm pretty confident that I'm going to feel ready to race again, guns blazing. No more racing for me for a little while. It's time to train.
This will be aided by the fact that I'll be moving in less than two weeks, saying farewell to Maryland and DC for a little while.
2 comments:
PR, definitely frustrating I'm sure to not see the results you expect from yourself.
I obviously don't know much about your goals, training objectives, etc, but it seems like you're racing pretty frequently. I myself did 27 races last year, and it's a lot for your body to absorb. And the summer will come and I'll say "no racing, just training, fall is your season" - but then I wind up racing 3 times in July and 3 times in August.
Needless to say, I felt like I put in subpar performances across the board.
I'm sure with your new grad school routine you'll have a little priority shift and I wouldn't be surprised to see your races perk up, just because you'll be more focused.
Over the last couple years the person I've seen plot a race, make a plan for that race, build towards it and then execute has been the Fox himself.
I certainly don't think you race TOO much, and you are obviously focused on the results, but keep in mind you can't have your best day everyday. If you're me, however, you can in fact have your worst day everyday ("every day you see me, that's on the worst day of my life").
And while it's cheesy and I'm sure you do it anyway, but in my new world of having pretty crappy unavoidable things happen to you I will say it anyway: it's just running. The only thing that is sure in running is that you will get slower. You may get faster before that happens, but eventually we all get slower. And once you've raced, it's over and behind you - so I like the attitude of looking ahead.
All the best as you move down to Puke, good luck down there and maybe if I can run by November I'll come down for Raleigh Old Reliable 10k, my favorite race in the South, and see you there.
"Wow, that's messed up."
Thanks dude for the well-wishes. I actually DO think that I've already raced too much this year. I'm looking forward to racing less frequently and forcing myself to make 'em count a little more. My schedule is going to get a little crazy with school, so racing every other weekend is certainly going to be out of the question.
As for the goals and training objectives, there's really just one: a sub-2:30 marathon. Once I crack that, then I'll reevaluate and set some new goals for the spring (probably 5k/10k work, possibly another Boston?). The next few weeks are going to see more marathon training because I have 14 weeks to get ready for Raleigh.
P.S. Let me know if you're going to be in Raleigh for the race in November. If you're coming, make sure you bring an infant because I want to take a crack at that jogging stroller division.
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