Training Summary: 5/5 - 5/11

Mon: 8 miles, plus drills and plyos

Tue: AM – 4.5 miles; PM – 8 miles, plus strides

Wed: 10.5 miles, including track workout

Thu: 7 miles

Fri: 5 miles

Sat: 0 – Day Off

Sun: 0 – Day Off

Total: 43 miles

After fighting tired, heavy legs and fatigue in general for the better part of the past two weeks, I finally succumbed over the weekend and took a couple days off. I had actually planned on racing Saturday, and this week was structured with that as the goal, but it would have been pointless. I could have probably run ok, but to be honest, I’m tired of running ok. I either want to race well, as defined by my own personal standards, or not race at all, and I definitely wouldn’t have been anywhere near my best had I toed the line on Saturday.

As for the week itself, the first couple days were pretty normal. I skipped doubling on Monday to try to get a little extra rest, and while my legs were tired, it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. The workout on Wednesday consisted of two sets of 800/600/400/200/100 at a descending pace, and I struggled. I was hitting the goal splits, but just didn’t have my legs under me at all. In fact, had Andrew not been there encouraging me to stay on it, I would have bailed after the first set. When all was said and done, however, the second set was actually faster than the first and it turned out to be a pretty solid workout. I did 4200 meters of fast running at an overall average pace of 5:06, which is basically 15:50 5k pace. That’s exactly the kind of work I need to do in order to race fast at the 5k-10k distances.

I ran earlier than usual on Thursday so I could work the annual Roanoke-VA Tech Twilight meet. It was the first day of the year over 90 degrees, but it didn’t feel as bad as I thought it might. In fact, overall I felt pretty good and was kind of encouraged, especially for coming off a hard workout the day before. That feeling didn’t last long though, as Friday was the complete opposite. I just felt tired, beat-up, unmotivated, and DONE in general! I decided even before the end of the run that I would take the weekend off to regroup and go from there.

So where does that leave me? Well, changes are coming and I’m working with my coach on how my training will look going forward. It’s definitely way beyond overdue that I stop training for the sake of training and start training to race. Being able to write down a nice mileage total in my log book at the end of each week inspires confidence, and hard work certainly pays off, but what I’ve been doing IS NOT working for me anymore. I’ve been trying to train like I did 10-15 years ago when I was at my best, and all that’s happening is I’m burning myself out while not even being able to hit the quantity or quality I did back then much less come close to approaching the race times I used to run. I haven’t enjoyed running for a while, in part due to the fact that I’m frustrated from working so hard while feeling like I’m beating my head against a wall, and I’m just plain tired of it.

If I didn’t feel like I still had an opportunity to run fast as a Masters runner, I would walk away from the competitive side of the sport and just run for fun and fitness. However, in spite of the fact that I know my window of opportunity is closing, I still believe I have a shot at some decent performances before all is said and done and therefore feel like I might have some regrets if I hung ‘em up right now. So, I’m going to shake things up and see what happens. I’m waiting to see what my coach comes up with, as I told him yesterday that I was ready and willing to hand the reins completely over. I’m guessing my training will look completely different from what it ever has, and that’s probably a good thing. Time for a new chapter, and hopefully some much better results!