Another weekend and another two days of not running when my plan said I should. Saturday resulted in some relaxing banjo picking on the porch instead of hitting the trails for some mileage. Sunday's exercise was mowing the lawn and other chores before taking my wife out for a late lunch and then an evening showing of The Avengers. Those 15 miles I was supposed to get in?
Let's talk about this "supposed to" notion. To kick off 2012 and get myself back into a running groove, I devised a plan that would help me build mileage slowly before reaching marathon training season this summer. The plan worked well for the first three months of the year, but now I'm starting to falter.
The obligation of running is becoming a hindrance. There's the letdown of missing a run. But why? I'm not actively training for anything. My only goal was build up my mileage, and I've done that.
I've hit 20-mile weeks and double-digit long runs, which are the hallmarks of early marathon training. Yet, I'm putting pressure on myself to hit all my runs according to plan. There's no point in that with my goal marathon still four and a half months away.
The plan has become too rigid. I prefer and more flexible schedule. So, while I'm not totally scrapping my pre-training plan, I'm instead adopting a "whatever, whenever" mentality. There's no need to get so uptight about running. Cheers!
4 comments:
Agreed. Do more than you feel like now and you'll hate the training later, when you DO have to be more rigid. Good move.
It's always best to devise an excuse and this seems as good as any!
Sometimes you just need to go with the flow (says the girl who hasn't run a step since packing the car to drive to New Orleans 5 days ago...) Cheers! ;)
My off season, which just concluded was all about going with the flow. Run when I want, where I want, how far I want, and forget about the watch.
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