Slowing Down

It dawned on me Monday afternoon when I got back from my run that I really wasn’t enjoying my run workouts in any shape or form. In fact, I’ll take it a step further in that I’ve been dreading having to go out and run lately. I see guys out there like Steven, qcmier, and Mike and wonder, “What’s wrong with me? Why am I running so slow?” And as such, I made a commitment to myself earlier this Spring to get faster. I’ve been running harder and faster in an attempt to get faster and while my times did rapidly improve from where I started, they’ve plateaued quite a bit since then. But along with that, my aches and pains haven’t completely gone away and my motivation and drive to get out there and run hard every workout is starting to die.

I get the whole “you have to run fast to run fast” saying. But in my particular case, I think that’s putting the cart in front of the horse. This is my third triathlon season and my “A” race for the past two years have been such that I’ve had to hobble through the run leg and deal with ITB issues for months afterwards.

So, it’s textbook time and time for a review of Going Long. In the four stages of running development, I’m clearly not past stage two (Building Endurance) yet.

“The goal of Stage 2 is to build the endurance necessary to complete (rather than compete) the run portion of your event… The duration of your workout is more important than the overall intensity… You should stay in Stage 2 until you have been running for at least two years. You will benefit from building your endurance base for up to five years before starting focused ME work. The body adapts slowly, and the deeper the base that you create, the harder you can work when the time is right.”

For a recap:

  • I’ve never run the entire run at Ironman. I’ve given it a good try to the half way point before I really felt like death, but I wouldn’t call what I do “completing the run”.
  • Duration over intensity. It was clear on my long run today (100 minutes) that I don’t have the base to run 150 minutes yet. Lets first get back to that point and then establish another medium length run before we even begin to think about building intensity.
  • I haven’t run for two years straight yet. I’ve sort of faked it through two seasons, but my rather lengthy off-season don’t count as time towards two years, IMO.

There are no shortcuts. There’s no easy way. I don’t run fast because I don’t run a lot. I hereby dedicate myself to running consistently, running “easy” (zone 1-2, AeT-AeT+10), not worrying about pace, and building my overall endurance. If I can do that, maybe I can run most of that damn death march at Wisconsin this year.

“It’s not about who goes the fastest, but who slows down the least.”

Keep your eyes on the prize…

2006/05/10 | General - Training | Comments [RSS 2.0]

18 Responses to Slowing Down »»


Comments

  1. Really felt like death? Maybe I’ll wait with that IM another year. :) You seem to be on the right track. You’re looking at the big athletic picture as opposed to immediate races. Good luck!

    Comment by Linae | 2006/05/10 at 19:09:08

  2. Death march? Uh….did someone say death march? :) What have I gotten myself into…

    Sounds like you’ve got a good plan! qcmier is quite a speed demon. Me = not so much.

    Comment by Sara | 2006/05/10 at 19:25:20

  3. by the way, myself, and many coaches don’t agree with ‘to run fast, you gotta run fast’… build a base, hit the weight room because muscles produce speed — not intervals or hill work, then with muscles do the interval/hill work to get race ready. i compare myself to Steven for example, he has like 6% less body fat, and 20 lbs more lean muscle than me for the same height — any idea why he’s faster? cause he runs fast? or, …

    Comment by Bolder | 2006/05/10 at 20:06:10

  4. I’m not fast by any objective standard, but I dropped 42 minutes off my marathon time in one year, and ran with less perceived effort the whole way. I attribute this to two things: 1. accumulated base training like you are talking about; and 2. bounding drills to improve form and run faster with less effort.

    Coach T, a/k/a la hermanita runnah chica, taught me the drills. Drop me a line if you want me to describe them.

    Comment by Greyhound | 2006/05/10 at 20:47:29

  5. Hey, you’ve definitely got the right attitude. I used to worry about speed and I never ran because I hated it so much. This time I slowed down and took it one minute at a time. My first 10K broke 10min/mi for the first time in my entire life. I know that’s slow but it’s worlds faster than every before! Hang in there and you’ll be flying by everybody in no time! :D

    Comment by Habeela | 2006/05/10 at 21:25:30

  6. Chris,

    Great observation. My goal for IM is to run the marathon portion. Slow and sustainable. No IM shuffle :)

    Comment by Cliff | 2006/05/10 at 22:15:44

  7. Just thinking myself about being slow and wondering whether it has anything to do with the fact that I never lifted weights my entire life. When i was faster (6 min miles) I was in the Marines carrying 60 lbs of gear every day. Guess that was my “lifting weights” back then. So, i found Bolder’s comment pretty interesting. Chris? Aren’t you one of the few like me who doesn’t lift?

    Comment by tarheeltri | 2006/05/10 at 22:31:44

  8. Well I guess I have to deal with the fact that I am perceived to be a fast runner.

    Bolder made a very interesting comment.

    I began my running career trying to run 100 to 400 meters as fast as possible. So I spent many hours in the weight room. This winter I rededicated myself to pumping iron about 4 days a week (2 for upper body, 2 for lower body). I also do this to try to prevent injuries.

    Since I have yet to compete in a long course tri, I can not draw on any experience. But I think it is safe to say those competing in IM do not need huge quads, but rather good overall functional strength. As you said, duration over intensity.

    It sounds like you have a good plan. Keep it up!!!

    Comment by qcmier | 2006/05/11 at 00:25:28

  9. Chris- great observation there on the running. For an Ironman focus, you are absolutely correct to focus on the base stuff. It’s all about building up the durability in the legs so you actually “run” the 26.2 off the bike. I was a base freak myself and was able to get fast enough to Q for boston on pretty much 100% base (z2) and even split the two loop run at IM Florida (3:44) back in 03…all base. The key was building up to a point where I was running every day. Also- KP had me doing huge bike volume and minimal running with the goal to start the run without major fatigue.

    The flipside though is that we won’t get “Steven-like” speed from a ton of base….he is FAST..genetics must play a part too…..*sigh*….you already know this but to hit that next level, once you’ve established that injury-free base, you need to do the painful stuff.

    Comment by Mike | 2006/05/11 at 01:35:10

  10. You’re so right. You’re not training for short, fast races, so it really shouldn’t factor into your training that way. It took me two years of base building before speed work was even possible in the running world – speed work I do because I love short distance races :)

    Here’s to a year with no injuries!

    Comment by jessie | 2006/05/11 at 07:25:17

  11. I think you have a good point. The training advice is contradictory. Everyone says build a base first. and to do that–stay in an aerobic hear-rate zone. But then you hear, long, slow distance, leads to long, slow times. What the f…? Which is it? I always get injured for pushing it too fast, too soon as well. I tend to think we all do too much speed and not enough LSD (the long, slow thing, not the drug). For me, I know I need to focus more on slowing down and going long rather than speedwork. What do you think?

    Comment by Rachel | 2006/05/11 at 12:46:18

  12. Holy smokes. I feel enlightened. I’ve been thinking about this for this whole injury-riddled season! As I think back to last year, I was doing the Mike Pigg training method which is all about running slow, slow, slow. But when I raced after all of those slow runs, I smoked it – couldn’t believe what my time was. But this year, I blew that off – it’s hard to go that slow – but I’ve had injury after injury – argggggggh. Ok, I start my new training TO-DAY!

    Comment by rightonq | 2006/05/12 at 15:51:02

  13. AHHHHHH!! Your last paragraph gave me chills!!!!

    Your attitude is perfect, and everyday you get faster and stronger. I can’t wait to race with you (like I could keep up…lol… you’re like Steven and those guys for ME!).

    Comment by Wil | 2006/05/13 at 07:56:24

  14. I have run for almost twenty years and I have finally accepted that its okay to walk when you have to AND its planned. I have no illusions or desires really to run a full training run over a 10k without giving my self permission to walk for one minute every ten or so minutes. I have found that my time in runs longer than the half marathon are actually more consistant that if I run the whole way.

    Maybe you need to go slower to go faster.

    Comment by commodore | 2006/05/14 at 02:29:37

  15. I like the “you have to run fast to run fast” idea. Is that what I have been missing all this while. :P

    Comment by Kewl Nitrox | 2006/05/14 at 12:55:18

  16. By the way, an 85 degree therapy pool plus tons of kids learning to swim equals cesspool.

    Comment by qcmier | 2006/05/15 at 00:33:58

  17. Chirs:

    you are on the right track. i find that most people focus on the bike and some on the swim because that is what they like to do and feel hey i can walk the run portion if i have to. while the most distance is the bike, the run can take as much time as the bike if you don’t prepare witha good solid running base.

    Comment by Oldman | 2006/05/18 at 09:43:21

  18. I agree with focusing on your base for years. It makes you feel better on the whole when you start speeding up.

    Comment by Rachel | 2006/05/18 at 14:38:20

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