Turtles Can Run

Thank you all for your kind comments about my race results and all the encouragement along the way!

Today I just  wanted to jot down some post race thoughts about things I am glad I did, things I learned  and some things I wish I would have done during my training.

First the things I think I did right/ learned this time around:

• Nutrition:  When I trained for the 3M the only thing I brought along with me on my long runs was powerade.  That got me through most of my runs but on the really long ones I was really dragging my last few miles and was ravenous afterwards.  I started using gels on my long runs this time around and it really made a big difference in those last few miles.  I used two gels during the race and it allowed me to finish strong, my last mile was one of my fastest, I can almost never do this.
• I ran longer distances.  Although I thought I ran 17 miles  as my longest run last time, it was probably less than 15 miles since I was using my Nike + to measure my distances.   This time my longest run was 18 miles and I was able to accurately measure that with my Garmin 305.  Doing a greater number of longer runs helped my endurance and made the 13.1 not seem so impossibly long.
• Speed Work.  I did more structured speed work.  This helped me see how fast I could go if I really push myself.  Knowing I could go much faster than my goal pace gave me confidence during racing.
• Garmin 305:  I have to mention this tool because it really helped me know distance and pace while I was training.  And it really helped me fight  my natural inclination to give in to the fatigue during the last part of the race and during many of my training runs.
• Foam Roller and stretching:  Both  really helped me get rid of the tightness in my legs.  I found that I was not as sore, my ITB  did not bother me nearly as much as the first time around even though I trained harder.
• Cold showers:  I read in an article that said  if you don’t want to do a ice bath a cold shower can give you similar benefits.  It really did make a big difference in recovery time after long runs, of course during the summer months I can not get cold water to flow out of my shower, it is lukewarm at best, so I will be doing the ice baths after my long runs.

Things I would do differently:

• More hill training.  I should have been doing many more hills throughout my training.  The hills were brutal during the race, I would have liked to be able to go faster on them but I was pretty out of breath just going at the pace I was.  So I see more hill work in the future.
• More cross training.  I started doing spin classes and really enjoyed them.  It would have been nice to be doing them throughout.  My strength training also went  down the tubes.  I need to be more diligent about maintaining it while training for a race.  But sometimes it feels hard to fit it all in.

• Tempo runs.  These were my weak spot.  I really couldn’t hit the pace I wanted during my tempo runs.  They usually fell at a difficult part in the week,  third consecutive day of running. So this is something else I will be working on in the next few months.

Trying to put together a training plan for the next few months.   My general plan is  run some 5ks and 10ks, keep my mileage up, do spin classes, strength train and then start training for my full in late August.

Filed under: Running Blog