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There are dozens, if not hundreds, of plans out there promising to help you train for a race. Whether it’s a 5K or a marathon or anything in between, there’s a plan. Before running my first marathon in November of 2009, I followed a plan that I had found on-line. If I am going to be honest, I didn’t follow it too well. Like most plans, it had a variety of runs that I was supposed to run at very specific paces. I ignored the pacing all together and simply ran at the speed my body wanted to that day. Most of the time that meant running 20 – 40 seconds slower than my expected marathon pace.
Yes, it’s true, I simply looked at the distance and ran. I would do the speed work at the recommended pace, but when it came to the Recovery Run, the Medium Long Run or the Long Slow Distance Run, I didn’t want to have anything to do with the recommended pace.
Run almost 2 minutes slower than my goal pace? No Frakking Way! What’s the use of that?
And then I promptly injured myself. And then I injured myself again.
Looking back, I’m convinced that the most probable culprit for my pre-Manchester Marathon injuries was probably pace. I also think that my lack of running LSD’s may have had an impact on my leg freeze at mile 20 of that same race. I didn’t fully understand the importance of the Long Slow Distance Run nor did I fully grasp the concept of balancing hard workouts with easy ones. In some ways, the easy workouts are just as important as the hard ones, and to a degree are much harder to master.
The slow run has a physiological benefit, however, I think that there is another benefit to having the discipline to run the Recovery, Medium-Long and Long Runs at the recommended paces. It’s the mental aspect of the marathon. When you are forced to run much slower than you are capable of, it’s easy to get bored, let the mind wander and lose focus. I know that even with short recovery runs, I sometimes have to fight to get to that 5th mile, in part because I feel like I should already have completed that distance. By learning to stay focused during the slower runs, you are more capable of keeping your head in the marathon during the latter parts of the race.
In training for the Smuttynose Marathon, I finally put my faith completely in the program. There were days when life got in the way, so I was unable to follow the schedule to a T, however, I made a huge effort to do what I was told, and that included running long runs at a pace that was much slower than I was comfortable.
The payoff? An 11 minute PR and a BQ.
A week into training for Boston 2011, I have to remind myself to slow down. Just yesterday I took my first longish run of the cycle – 12 miles. I should have run it at about an 8:15 – 8:20 pace based on the 3:15 I’m shooting for in April. Instead I let my legs take over and ran it in a 7:55 pace, with the last 6 miles at 7:30 pace.
Not exactly listening to my own advice. Hopefully next week I can be a little more disciplined.
So remember to take your time and enjoy your LSD’s.
Run Luau Run 
How many times do we, parents raising a child with autism hear, this is a marathon not a sprint? I can’t tell you how many times I heard it cause I lost count in year 1 of this journey. So I am midly surprised that you would not buy into the concept of LSD. But then I think back to 1 of the first posts I read, where you were sizing up the competition and thought, Luau is all man and does competition more than recommendation, hmmmm.
This isn’t running with your hair on fire time, this is doing what is right to achieve the end goal, a great run in Boston. Hare or turtle my friend, hare or turtle?
Sheila,
I too always tell people that raising a child with autism is like a marathon (though to be fair, it is for typical kids too). I say that we are now walking that marathon with Brooke where we were once crawling. But you are right, it is the competitive nature that can get the better of me when I am out running. Even when I am out for a long run, I will very often peek at my watch to make sure that I have not slowed down significantly from the previous mile…this even when I have stated to myself that I need to be going slowly.
I have learned the importance of pace and listening to my body. I know that there are times when I pour it on during a training run and times when I need to do a powerwalk and it is so awesome to read how you validate what my body is intuitively telling me to do.
Thanks Luau for another great post. Oh and by the way – balancing long and short, slow and fast led me to another PR on my 5K yesterday .:)
Have fun and run safe.
That’s excellent Mary! Congrats on the PR!!!
They don’t tell you to have “trust in training” for nothing! Pacing is so hard for me to do. But like you, once I put my faith completely in a plan, it all came together. We should make a pact to remember that in the lead up to April!
And P.S. Everytime I see your BQ finish photo (there’s a thumbnail Facebook image here), it makes me smile. Best. Shot. Ever.