From That Day On, If I Was Going Somewhere, I Was Running

My run training has been hobbled since I started training for a marathon back in aught 3. I based my training times on the times I was running when I was 21. At that time, I finished a three miler in 18 minutes, so I thought it was perfectly reasonable to base my training on a mere 8 minute mile.

On my first 10K, I got it done in 50 minutes, much to my disgust at the time. That's when the mysterious pain in my knees started, but having never experienced such a thing, I continued trying to hit unrealistic times, getting pissed for missing them and pushing all the harder until I finally limped into my doctor's office like a 90-year-old arthritic.

It took slow learning over five years, two sets of x-rays and six different doctors before I finally realized that what used to be my strength was now my weakness. Based on the time available to train and my level of dedication, my days of eight minutes miles, let alone the six minute miles I managed on the three miler, are well nigh behind me.

At one point I went to the chiropractor who treated Mary Decker Tabb. After strapping electrodes to my knees and electrocuting me for a half-hour, he pulled out a baton and basically treated my knees like very stiff bread dough. Then he sent me into a masseur who beat the hell out of the rest of me for another half-hour. Then I got the bill and of course I hadn't met my deductible yet. After the second visit, I briefly considered returning with a firearm to exact revenge, but instead chose to never return. My version of logic says I should feel moderately better after a visit to the doctor, not ten times worse. And we're not talking about chemo to cure cancer here, I just have some pain in my knees, for the love of jehova!

On my most recent visit to a physical therapist, he started to pull out one of those batons, and he must have seen the look of death in my eyes, because he set it down and said, "Maybe we'll save that for one of your later visits." He tried to convince me of the therapeutic value, breaking up the knots and encouraging blood flow, and if he'll give me a shot of demerol before he started, I'll think about it. But I have fully embraced the "no pain, no pain" training philosophy, and hope it will reward me with another thirty years of LDTs.

I have been trying in vain to get below or even close to that 51 minute 10K ever since, but my best is 53 minutes and I'm generally satisfied with 54-55 minutes.

In keeping with my KISS principle training philosophy, I have the same basic pattern on my runs, depending on the distance. Also, I do most or all of my training on the treadmill, because again, it is simple.

If I'm running three miles, I start at about a 6.0 and every tenth of a mile I increase by .09 miles. I keep increasing until I feel like I'm not going to keep going, and then every .1 mile, I decrease the pace by .1. I usually peak out at 7:30 per mile pace. I believe one would call this a "pyramid technique." I'm positive I didn't invent it, though I will take credit if necessary.

As the distance of the run increases, I start at a slower pace, but maintain the same increasing/decreasing method. Basically, I pull back about one minute on pace per mile I add to the training run. It works out so that I wind up peaking in speed at about the midpoint in the run, though I try to keep increasing for as long as possible. Occassionally, I'll peak too high and I have to pull back faster than I'd like, but what I like about this is that it really forces me to push harder than if I was just running on a track or outdoors. When you're going up, it's maddeningly slow and when you're coming back down you wonder if the button is broken.

At this point in my season, my long run is 6 miles. Foolishly, I abandoned my usual training method and decided to just start running 9 minute miles right off the bat and maintain that pace for every mile. Which worked great for the first two miles. Then, I was pretty much spent and wound up walking most of the rest, finished an hour run with 4.9 miles.

It's always frustrating not making training and/or race goals, but it's also good to change up the routine and push a little bit. I will just repeat the six mile distance next week, revert back to my usual training method and finish the six miles no matter how long it takes. From long years of backpacking, I know that it is always more important to put the  miles in and let the time take care of itself. 

I think it's perfectly sensible, given the cost of races, to stay on the course as long as possible.