August Recap; Plans for the Fall

Thanks to a random ankle issue that still remains somewhat of a mystery, August was a poor month from a training perspective, as I logged just 166 miles, my fewest of any month so far this year. My previous low was 221 miles in April, a month where I had lots of work travel and was also feeling tired and burned out (likely related).

Overall I’m doing quite well on the year, with only three months totaling less than 300 miles, but the timing of this exceptionally poor month was bad. I was coming off my best month of the year and felt like I was starting to build some momentum. I was handling an increased volume pretty well and was starting to notice the benefits. I really felt like once I adjusted to running 85-90 miles per week with a drop-back week of 65-70 miles scheduled every 4th week that I would be well on my way to returning to the level of fitness I’ve been chasing the past couple years (actually longer than that). I was doing some decent workouts along with the volume I was running and the plan was to increase the quality as my body became more accustomed to handling the mileage. Everything seemed to be very solid, both the plan and my body.

However, as I mentioned at the start of this post, that all went up in smoke thanks to a weird ankle issue that popped up seemingly out of nowhere then disappeared just as randomly a little over three weeks later. I still think some ankle strengthening exercises I added with the goal of helping my chronic right achilles issue was the root cause, but I also feel like my ankle wasn’t that good to begin with and the exercises just pushed it over the edge. In other words, even though I’m feeling fine now, I still believe there’s a problem with my right ankle that likely contributes and/or is related to the achilles issue and therefore needs to be addressed. I’ve got some ideas on how to work on that and I’m hopeful they will pay off, but only time will tell.

Additionally, as I’ve mentioned lately, I’m modifying my original plan a bit and my whole approach to the sport as well. First off, I’m not going back to the previous goal of 85-90 miles per week anytime soon. I’ve adjusted that downward to more like 75-80 with a drop-back week still planned for once every 3-4 weeks. I would prefer to stick to the original target, but I feel like it might be more than I can handle for the time being, particularly with quality workouts added on top of it. Perhaps if I can get a substantial block of training in at an average of 75 miles per week I can bump it up sometime down the road. For now, however, I feel it’s more important to have a good mix of volume and intensity rather than have to compromise quality in favor of quantity. Also, I have no immediate race plans. I’ve always been one to let racing dictate my training, so to speak, but going forward it’s going to be the other way around. I’ll let training dictate the racing, so I’ll race once I have an indication that I’m ready to do so. Otherwise I will wind up with two problems. First, I’ll rush to get ready and not do what I need to do, and second, I’ll just be disappointed and frustrated with my results.

Anyway, I’m looking forward to the fall, although I’m not exceptionally excited about the cold, dark days that will be right behind it. I’m excited about the opportunity to get in the best shape I’ve been in for a while though and I’m ready to do some work. There’s just one caveat. First I have to get through a couple of weeks where I’ll be challenged with some work related events that will surely reduce what I’m able to do and probably also require some recovery thereafter. That means the first half to possibly two thirds of September will be less than optimal. That said, my goal is to simply do a good enough job of treading water that I can really get on it as soon as the opportunity presents itself. Time to do work ...... almost.