Going forward in 2012

Hi There,

As you may know by now I've run my first race of 2012 and came out of it in two mindsets. First was I wasn't very happy with myself as I didn't do as well as I would've liked and swore that I was done with marathons for good. The second was within a couple of hours of finishing I knew that wasn't the case anymore, I just need to correct a couple of things in training and I know that I'll start running the times I know I'm capable of. 

It’s not about proving anything to anyone. It’s about running the best race that I have in me, which I don't believe I have done yet and definitely didn't happen in Phoenix. I've gotten close a few times - Dublin 2009 was the first race I felt I was in control of the entire distance, Calgary 2010 was the second race where I had this feeling only it was better than Dublin and then the half marathon at the Edmonton marathon weekend in 2010 was the last time where I felt I was finally running around what I'm capable of.

When I go to a race I plan on finishing no matter how badly it goes. No one likes either a DNS or DNF beside their name. Finishing in one piece is one of the lowest expectation I have of myself when I'm on the start line, the lowest is finishing injured. The other thing I have in my mind that would make a race finish acceptable to me is finishing better than my last race. These goals were achieved in Phoenix. The best outcome is that I finish with a new PB.

I do however have to be smart in how I train from now on. I can't just run mile after mile because A) I have family to spent time with and B) my history of injuries are forcing me to think of ways to supplement my lack of running mileage with other ways to train. I'm still going to run as much as I can but I won't a high mileage guy, I believe that my best training comes in around 100 - 115K per week. Anything after that and I tend to break down if it’s sustained over a period of time, such as in a build up to a marathon and C) I do have a job that I love and sometimes requires me to work late or on weekends.

So how do you supplement running mileage? For me it’s going to be adding more time on the bike commuting to work and back and spending time in the pool. Of course more running is really the only thing that will give you the running fitness required to run fast times. But for me that is not going to work. If I cut back on my car usage I could easily rack up 200K a week on the bike by just commuting and then add a day or two in the pool for recovery and I should still be able to maintain 100K a week running. That is why I've signed up for a half Ironman.

I’m going to try this approach this season and see how it works out. If I find that I’m breaking down I’ll cut back on cycling and swimming.