Reflections (sort of long)

POTFH

Well It seems I missed the thread about summarizing your first 6 months of 2004 so here is mine.

Well the first half of the year is over and what a strange year it has been for me. I had a late Winter Early Spring racing season that far exceeded my expectations. I ran 4 races and set PR’s in all 4 races at different distances. In the 4th race a 50K, which was my longest race or run, where I was just looking to finish the race I ended up winning. I was feeling on top of the world. As I envisioned the rest of the Spring, Summer and Fall all I could see in my mind were PR’s dropping like flies and I could see myself finally qualifying for Boston in December at the Jacksonville Marathon.

Then the wheels fell off.

I took a few days off after the 50K and I started training again. Did I start back to early? I am not sure. I ran a 10K in Wilmington NC about 2 weeks after my 50K. I ran like garbage. I just figured that my body hadn’t recovered from the race. I sort of recovered at my next race, an 8K where I set a distance PR, but I wasn’t happy with my time. I then had a month off before my next race. I tried to get back into the training form that I had been in back in February. It wasn’t coming. Every run was a struggle. Work was keeping me busy but I was able to keep myself dedicated to getting out some everyday. I watched as my pace for my runs never picked up. I had nothing. My legs felt dead; my mind didn’t have the drive to force them to work harder. At times I felt like I was working my tail off but I had nothing to show for it. Had I peaked in March and it would be downhill from here until eternity?

Now let’s jump forward about 1 month to the 5 mile cross-country race in early May. Everyone thought I would kick butt at this race. Well race day arrived and my time was slower than the year before. I was going backwards. I lost to a guy that I had been soundly beating for quite some time. It was May and I knew the weather was getting warmer but I still expected to run as well as I had been in January, February and March.

My body wasn’t doing what I wanted it to do. I was getting frustrated. I continued to get out the door and run. The heat was rising and my training was getting harder and harder to get through, mentally that is since I knew how much I had slowed down. The Run for the Pies 5K arrived in early June and I just knew I would struggle. My time the previous year was 21:04 and since my training had struggled so much I thought I could at least run a 21:15 or 21:30 this year. The race arrived and I got through the first 2 miles more or less on target. I then fell apart in mile three. I cross the line in a time for a 5K that I haven’t been at in almost 2 and half years.

I know that when June rolls in I have hit that time of year when the heat rises and my running swoons. My pace drops off and my race times get slower. I usually just try and survive the summer. I use the few races I run to keep me motivated until the fall when I start training for the marathon. Now I sit here in Early July, my mind is looking at the page in front of me with my current run times in the Heat and Humidity and what I have done and it isn’t happy. Mentally I am disappointed at where I am. Part of my mind knows that it is the summer in Florida so I will get slower but the other part of my brain knows what I was running at and what my dreams were. Now I stare at the pages of my training log wondering if I will get back to where I was. Will I get back into the shape I need to be to hit my goal of qualifying for Boston. I don’t like losing to people I normally beat in races. Out of the group of guys I run with, there are 4 or 5 that beat me almost all the time and then a group of about 2 or 3 that we all trade off on who beats who and then there are 2 or 3 that I can usually beat. I don’t like losing to people in the 2nd and 3rd groups, even if it is the summer and 80 degrees at race time with 80 percent humidity. We are all running in the same weather so I try not to use that as an excuse.

Have I hit a plateau? Probably, although it feels more like a valley. I was on such a high at the end of March. Now I feel like I am marching downhill into one of the many levels of Dante’s inferno.

My mind races as it boils in the sun wondering what I can do to get out of this funk. Should I take a month off from running and try cross training with weights, the stationary bike and the rowing machine to see if I can get my drive back. Should I just suck it up and work as hard as I can until September when I start training again?

Thanks for reading and I will see you all in 10 days!

Member

I know all too well the pain, frustration, and disillusionment you're going through. No way have you hit the final plateau of your running career; your fall/winter times tell you that. You've just hit a rough spot, is all. Once summer is behind you I have no doubt you'll find your old pace, and a few other things you seem to have dropped along the road. Gut it out, be patient, and wait for the good stuff to return.

ENJOY YOUR VACATION!

Member

Gone Fishin

It either is or it isn't. I've got no crystal ball here as much as I wish I could predict the future, I can't. Just my own personal experience so far has been that the age we're at (FB and I are the same age), there does begin the inevitable decline. As much as we'd like to dream of PRs forever and evah, it's not meant to be. I for one have lost some cherished ground pacewise between age 33 and 36. Again, that's just my story and perhaps yours will be different, but the o' bod can't always get faster.

Excelent

I echo jrjo's comment.

I always tried to listen to the body. If it tells me to take some time off, its good to listen.

Member

FB. first of all, enjoy the time off.

second, don't beat yuorself up. most likely a plateau, i agree with cross-training, i had to do the same thing. i have noticed similiar experiences in my skating. i changed up the schedule, i changed up my diet/recovery diet and rounded it out. if need be i put in an extra rest day.

Member

I'm sorry you're having to deal with this, and I bet the vacation will be good for you. Hope it's fun.

No one likes to see their dreams be yanked away. Even a noncompetitive, nonelite runner like me had to scale back my expectations of myself drastically, and it was quite upsetting, so I can only imagine what it is for you.

But here's what I've learned: If you have to scale back, you will, and you'll become more comfortable with that in the face of it. If you don't have to scale back, you'll make some other adjustments to allow you to proceed on the way you want.

If you decide you're going to take the summer and cross-train and think about things for a while, that might feel better because you're the one deciding it, not letting it happen to you, so to speak.

Best of luck with it. Keep us posted.

POTFH

Thanks for the nice comments everyone. I have really come to terms that this is just an off summer for me. I am currently planning on training through my Tour De Pain race in Early August. Then take it easy until September 1 when I crank it up for the Jax Marathon.

Pyromaniac

Good post FB. After PR'ing at the 5k, 10k and 5 mile distances and having an untied shoe costing me a PR at the 4 mi distance, all at the age of 44, I had incredibly high hopes for this year. I had a good winter of training until the end of Jan. when I pulled that freakin' groin muscle. The wheels fell off for about 6 months. I'm finally starting to feel strong again but at my age it's a difficult climb back to where I was. I REFUSE to believe this old body doesn't still have it though. There are still some sub 19 5k's and a sub 40 10k in me somewhere and if I don't find it by this fall I will by next summer.

Reflections (sort of long)

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