More notes for next cycle

I want to start somewhat of a “list” of things I did well and things I could improve upon for next cycle. I’ll add to this as I think through my upcoming goals/plans for next cycle. Again, this serves more of a purpose for me than for any type of blogger-reader pleasure, sorry!

Things that I did well:
1. Consistency of training. This is 100% due to Jerry. Wow, what a difference working with him has made! Even though I didn’t have big mileage weeks, I was still able to train more miles in total during this cycle (and it was even pretty short!) than I have before, just because I didn’t have the big ups and downs.

2. Listened to my body. I can “feel” now when my hips/back aren’t in alignment, and don’t hesitate to go into the chiropractor. That made a huge difference in keeping me healthy.

3. Started some sort of strength work about 5 weeks before the marathon, based on a presentation given at Finn Sisu. Before this, I wasn’t doing much of anything. I also devoted a lot more time to stretching, something I skipped out on before.

4. Didn’t overly consume myself with thinking about “the plan”. I trusted in what Jerry gave me and just went out and did it. Previously, I’d have a plan laid out, but then would constantly be thinking about it, changing it, just questioning it in general. That takes WAY too much brain power.

Things that I can do better:
1. Following a more consistent strength plan. Chrissy B. of Fit Life is going to help me with that. If something is laid out for me, and I don’t have to think about it, I’m more than able and excited to do it… I think before I’ve always just not had the brain power to think through a strength program, and because I don’t have anything planned, I just didn’t do much of anything. So, Chrissy formally becomes a part of my “Trials Team” :). Pretty exctied about it.

2. Mileage and duration of marathon training cycle. The build up to TCM was great, don’t get me wrong, but it was short, and the mileage wasn’t super high. I think I can (and will) build on this, which will just make me stronger.

3. Speed. My 5k speed was just 18:00 before the marathon. I need to bring that down a bit. Easy to work on: in the TCM cycle I only did 3 or 4 VO2 max workouts, and only right at the end. We just didn’t have that much time to cram everything in during the cycle because of the injury, so focused more on tempo and threshold.

4. Weight. I know this is a taboo subject, so I don’t want to dwell on it too much. But I can improve on this. Nothing drastic, but I should probably be a little leaner before a trials-time effort. I think consistent mileage over a period of time (and not starting from scratch without much muscle and a bunch of extra flab), a good strength training program will probably take care of it 🙂 I can eat a lot more fruits and vegetables too 🙂

5. Training partners. I did way too much of my training alone. Nate was great (ha, that rhymes), but he doesn’t do all of the workouts with me. I did all of my VO2 max stuff alone, which although that worked, I know I work a lot harder when I’m chasing someone. Not sure who I can contact, especially since I live in RW, which is a little bit of a haul. One of my thoughts was to ask the RW CC coach if a few of his boys would want to run through the winter… maybe they’d be up for a hard workout every now and again? Any ideas, anyone?

6. Mental toughness. If you’ve been reading this blog recently, you know what I mean 🙂 In general, I need to re-learn how to RACE, and especially how to race a marathon.

Hope all of these improvements lead to shaving 5:27 off!!

I’m sure I’ll be adding to this as I think of things.