Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Quality Workout Mindset

One of the most difficult things for me as part of the marathon training is to keep up with the rest of the group that I train with...a lot of them are training for their first marathon but are extremely good runners....fast runners....I am more of a slow and steady runner...speed is not my thing...but I have the endurance to keep running for a long time. During long runs, I have no problems. I just kind of tune out the rest of the runners and keep my steady pace. During quality workouts however, there is a lot of emphasis put on running drills, speed workouts, varying paces etc, and this is what gets to me. No matter how strong I personally feel doing the workouts, I always feel like I am lagging behind the rest of the group...I should know better though..Ive been through this training twice, and I know what works for me, and what doesn't. So I need to learn how to just focus on the improvements that I am making with the training, and not compare myself to the rest of the group!

Rogue's featured coach this week is Amy and one of the things she says is "meeting goals isn’t just dependent on training your legs to run fast, but it’s also about training your head.” And she's right! I do have a goal to reduce my timing this year pretty significantly, but in order to do that effectively, I am going to need to train not just my legs, but also my head, and focus on listening to how my legs feel, and how my body feels, and not worry about other runners! The great advantage of running with a group is that it motivates you to run better and faster than you usually do, but it does not necessarily mean that you run as fast as all the rest do!

I am going to be approaching my future QWs with this in mind!

P.S. The Quadballer is my new best friend! I just love it! :)

4 comments:

Amy said...

yay!!

Sharanya said...

I know exactly what you mean, I also feel that way in the intermediate group. There's a kid in my group who runs like the wind! But I'm keeping my eye on the Beginner's Mile.. and that helps me :)

Coach Amy's advice on the training the head hits the nail on the head!

Balu said...

Running as a pack keeps you hooked and motivated for long.... pack runners keep varying speeds depending on the fastest and the slowest runners...

vishy said...

Well... the group I am supposed to train with starts at weird times like 6.30 in the morning.. and guess what.. that is the most crucial time of my sleep and off late thts the time I go into a deep sleep (after turing off my alarm)..... I finally end up practising alone.. and think would face the consequences only on the D-day....