Last night I was looking at my training from freshman year of college and was getting a bit frustrated with my lack of development over the years which I have expected. Freshman year I ran 8:36 (3k), 14:41 (5k), and 30:34 (10k). Thus far my PRs have only been slightly improved: 8:29 (1 year later), 14:35 (ran 1 and 2 years later), and 30:17 (run 2 years later). I find it unbelievable that these are still my best times. I have had many instances where I though I was in 14:0x-14:1x shape or mid 29 min shape only to get injured mid season and having to play catch up. Well...it's happening again. So something has to change, and I think I've determined a portion of what it is.
I've got very high expectations and aspirations of myself, and I try to train myself at the level I think I should be at. I never considered this a problem because it has always been manageable, I've never felt myself going to the well, and I've never trained to a point of breakdown. I try to keep it below that line of injury (over training) vs. under training. Yet, sometimes the expectations I have of my body aren't exactly reality. I simply don't have the background in my training for my body to be ready for the workload increase. For the fundamental stage of my training leading in to Shamrock I was hoping to make a big jump in terms of fitness and training level. Therefore I increased my weekly volume, workout volume and intensity. Before this block of training my highest week has been 105 miles, which I've done about 2-3 times. So, when I look back at the weeks before I got injured (97, 108, 109, 90, 116, 115) I think....of course you got injured. Not only was I trying to jump to a volume I've never really done (rather than building to it), but I was also training at that volume - doing workouts at a volume I've never done before (4x3mi, 15 mi tempo).
What did I lose sight of? SMART long term development. The reason I did this training is because I ultimately want to focus on the marathon, and I figured this would be a good "primer" with high volume and workouts semi-similar to marathon training. So, I didn't necessarily lose sight of long term development, I was just trying to rush it (not being smart). As I was looking at the training I had laid out for my specific phase of Shamrock I realized I was doing the same thing, trying to throw in a bunch of workouts. More or less trying to force my body to get where I want it to be as opposed to giving it time to fully and safely progress to that level.
As I rewrite my training coming in to Shamrock I am thinking about the bigger picture and where I want to see myself down the road. Aerobic development takes a lot of time (years), and that development gets sideline whenever I get injured. I won't be planning as many half marathon specific workouts in this phase because I think it's time that I start anew. It's time to focus on development rather than short term goals. I believe this is what will take away that plateau I have had during my collegiate career. This doesn't mean my goals for Shamrock have changed though - I have just taken away the tunnel vision. It would be great if I run around 65 min, and I fully believe I'm capable. Yet, I have a bigger picture in mind, so I need to focus on getting myself there.
Great realization Seth. It's tough to admit you're mortal, but once you can admit it and live up to it, you're on the road to getting where you want to be. The mileage thing is dicey, especially for someone like you who has such a history of being hurt. I absolutely love what CM had me doing (and I still do to this day) where every 3rd week is a major down week in a cycle. So mileage over 6 weeks would look something like 105-115-75-110-115-75/80 or something. I found that to be a phenomenal system for myself in terms of staying healthy. Best of luck buddy, keep focused and pushing for it, you'll get there.
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