As closely as I like sticking with my training plan each week, sometimes small adjustments need to be made. If I feel strong and healthy, I don't mind adding a few extra miles. And if I feel worn down, sick or borderline injured, I'm not afraid to cut back or skip a workout. I believe it's just part of being a smart runner and truly listening to and knowing my body.
Another reason I might change things up is the weather. When I saw that Saturday's forecast called for chilly, rainy weather with wind gusts up to 25 miles per hour, I knew I would have to rearrange my schedule. I can handle chilly or rainy or windy, but put all three together and I'm a bit of a wimp :)
Around 2pm on Friday afternoon, I decided instead of doing my planned four mile easy run, that I was going to tackle Saturday's 16 miles after work. My reasoning was that I didn't want to hit the treadmill for 16 miles on Saturday and it was not appealing to run them in the chill/rain/wind.
Overall, it was a good run. I ran from downtown into Fox Point, over to Glendale, then back and fueled with Nuun and two gels (1 Roctane, 1 Accelerade). Brought my iPod with, but ended up not using it during the run. I was able to average an 8:39 pace for the run, which I was satisfied with.
Despite taking the gels and sipping electrolyte water throughout, I felt a bit lightheaded during the last few miles. I chalk it up to not fueling enough during the day given I originally thought I was only running four miles! Also, my usual evening runs are done within an hour, hour and a half so I wasn't thinking it would be completely dark at the end of this run. It was a tad spooky running down a road with no streetlights!
I was really happy to get this run out of the way though and as a bonus, I got to sleep in a bit on Saturday morning.
So, on to this week, my toughest training week in this cycle and the last hard week before a slow, gradual taper into my half marathon race. Here's the plan:
Monday
Afternoon: 6 mile easy pace run; 45 minutes strength training
Tuesday
Afternoon: 10 mile speed workout
Wednesday
Afternoon: 6 mile easy pace run; 45 minutes strength training
Thursday
Morning: 4-6 mile easy pace run
Afternoon: Boot Camp Class
Friday
Afternoon: 4 mile easy pace run
Saturday
Morning: 18 mile long run
Sunday
Rest Day
Tell me how you train: Do you stick with your plan no matter what or do you allow yourself some flexibility? Also, do you write your own training plan or follow one from someone else?
- ST
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