Welcome to 2008: Zen and the art of having "no goals" as your goals (Grasshopper)

Posted by simon on 1/3/2008 on simon's blog

How I wish I could follow Runner NYC's example and post up a long list of PRs for the year!

Instead, I'm looking at a back-sliding year, with the only highlight an unexpected victory in the Hyde Park 10k in London in July, where I came away thinking I'd produced yet another awful race only to get a heart rate monitor and congratulatory letter in the mail a couple of weeks later.

No, 2007 was a year of learning the hard way about the need for rest and recuperation after months spent desperately chasing the sub-5-minute mile fitness that never came. Having found out my adrenals are "shot" I feel a bit better about the lacklustre year. I am still in the process of repairing my adrenals and running "by feel" -- but it is getting increasingly difficult to keep away from picking goal races. The truth is, I just don't know when I'll be "ready" to race again and yet...

yeah, the Oatmeal 5k on January 12 beckons enticingly. OK, I admit it, I was one of the first to enter. My justification: I have no idea what my current state of fitness is. Times on my regular training loops are ridiculously slow, but that's because I'm wearing eight layers of clothes plus boots and crampons and can only go out roped to a partner.

To get a much-needed respite from the hard labor of tunneling through snowdrifts, I've signed up with the excellent Ric Rojas. Ric is one of Boulder's premier coaches and the man behind not only my running mate Patty Murray's world championship success, but gets consistent results across a slew of ages and distances. Ric keeps the edge on his athletes during the winter by training them in an indoor track. Ah, the bliss of it! Running flat out in shorts and a tee-shirt in mid-winter!

Ric and I met for a goal-setting session. But faced with the task of reviewing past performances (yuk!) and coming up with some challenging goal times and races, I found myself stalling. "The thing is, Ric". I said, "I have to feel I am recovered before I can focus on goals". Ric wasn't phased in the slightest. "Then that's your goal - write that down", he told me.

The next question was "How will you know when you've recovered?" That's a difficult one; apart from the functional tests I can do to see how my adrenals are, this is more case of I'll know it when I feel it". I'll get some idea from training, but maybe the best way is to see how I feel when I'm racing -- and that's where the 5k comes in. My challenge now is to keep it low key and not get carried away :)

Happy New Year all you YourRunners and may PRs abound!!!

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5 comments

Runner NYC says:

Thank you for the shout-out! In all fairness, though, my PRs were from slow times to less-slow times. I'm nowhere near your fitness level. My improvement is all about being a beginner and finding my way. I've been considering a coach myself, lately. I'm not sure yet, so I'm looking forward to hearing about your experience.

Good luck with the new coach and with your recovery!!

by Runner NYC on Fri, 2008-01-04 03:56

dave albo says:

I know you'll feel good at some point, while running fast too. I often hear Ric saying "undertrain, overperform" and I've seen numerous examples of just that (including me). I look forward to seeing you amongst them.

BTW, my adrenals are fairly shot this morning! We had a night workout indoors where my workout was a 600 meter time trial, done at around 8:00pm, a hard effort. This led to a nearly sleepless night (adrenal overload).

dave

by dave albo on Fri, 2008-01-04 15:10

simon says:

Thanks Dave... I know I am getting there bit by bit. The 'undertrain' thing is difficult at the moment. My first run of the New Year was an "easy" 10, which I thought I'd achieved, but the next day (yesterday) I felt PULVERISED. I checked my splits and it was a bit faster than it should have been, then factoring in the cost of slipping and sliding on the ice... and I guess what I ended up with was a moderate-hard run instead.

Because I'm "running by feel" at the moment, I adjust for this by declaring an extra rest day.

I couldn't train with you guys last night as it was the final night of an aikido course I've been doing, but actually after that 10 I was in no fit state to run with you, anyway! :) It sounds like you were still naturally juiced up from kicking out another high-class solo effort; it's hard to switch it all off again so you can sleep, ain't it?

Runner NYC: thanks for the comment a bout fitness levels. I'm pretty sure you would leave me for dead over 50 miles, but your comment gave me pause for thought; you're right, my base level of fitness is still pretty good, I'd sort of forgotten that and need to give myself credit for it. Thanks for the reminder!

by simon on Fri, 2008-01-04 15:44

Patty Murray says:

Talk about slow start to the year. This is the slowest start I have ever had, but hope in the long run it will pay off. Dr. Black told me today my calf muscles are now much smoother and I can stand on one leg with my eyes closed for 30 seconds now! It is an exercise Simon recommended for my recently sprained ankle. I had my first solid week of running in awhile, 59 miles and had a pleasant run on the treadmill last night, at least for treadmill running it was pleasant. Just a small irritation in my ankle remains. Dr. Black told me today that I am on the final stretch to fast running ahead! I hope this is true.

by Patty Murray on Thu, 2008-01-10 20:21