What am I Supposed to Do?

When I first got my custom training program from Greg McMillan, I couldn't wait to read through the whole plan. I wanted to know what I was going to be doing to get ready for Napa - using the training principles I had read about on www.mcmillanrunning.com. Principles that were consistent with my reading over the years and with some of my training experience. Not that any of my training experience didn't fit with the principles, it was more that my training experience was a little lacking in some areas.

One of the things that caught my attention was the Choose Your Workout days that appeared at two different points in the plan. "Brilliant!" I thought. I figured that was a really smart way to allow individual runners to pick a workout based on how they felt they were progressing and thereby customize the plan even more. Ever notice how some things look better from a distance?

For the last two weeks, I've been looking at today's Choose Your Workout and wondering what was the right workout to choose. The options are pretty straightforward:

• Strength Building Workout: 5 to 8 miles at goal pace, with a 15 - 30 minute warm up and cool down.
• Stamina Building Workout: 3 x 2 mile repeats, with some 200 meter intervals at the end.
• Hill Workout: 8 to 10 hill repeats of 60 to 90 seconds, with appropriate warm up and cool down.

But what did I really need? What workout was going to give me the best chance to run a Boston Qualifying time? Was it strength? Or stamina? Hills? Napa has some rolling hills in the beginning, but isn't a particularly hilly course. I was really at a loss at which way to go. So I started thinking about total weekly mileage. This Saturday's long run is planned for 22 miles. That makes this week potentially a high mileage week. Plus next week is a little tough with another Yasso 800 workout and a 20 mile fast finish long run. Then the peak mileage week follows that.

I really got hung up on the mileage and so decided to opt for the Hill workout. It was the shortest option. And besides, since I've been running with my heart monitor I have slowed down on hills. This would be a good chance to build some leg strength. Right? I mean, Napa does have some rolling hill in the first 6 miles, so it wouldn't be a total waste anyway. Right?

I was still feeling uneasy about it this morning when I was trying to explain to Diane my dilemma. She was being polite and listening. But I don't think the depth of my dilemma was really apparent to her. After having explained to her the options, I came back up to my home office. In my inbox was an email from a William. William is a former FIRST training program runner. He left a comment on the Assessing FIRST - Part 3, Specificity post. I had responded to his comment and William was replying back. But his email reminded me very clearly of his original comment:

Last year I used the FIRST training for the Lake Tahoe Marathon. I have to say your assessments are right on target. In the end I didn't feel I got enough time on my feet...

And then I knew the workout I needed to run. My major issue with FIRST was that I felt I already had the speed I needed to run a Boston qualifying time. What I needed to be able to do was to stay on my feet for 26.2 miles. And to me that meant the Strength Building workout - a good warmup then 8 miles at planned marathon pace, followed by a good cool down. Most likely the longest of the 3 workouts.

That's what I ran today. Total of 11 miles. And when I finished I was struck by the fact that I wasn't really very tired. Not much different than if I had done a 6 mile easy run. And I had just finished a workout that was significantly tougher than any I did in preparation for my half marathon. That could only mean one thing: I'm getting stronger.

But I think the real take away from today is how important it is to be connected with other runners. I was confused about the workout to choose. Focused on the wrong things. William's comment reflected back to me what I had been saying all along, and then the answer was clear. There's probably also a caution in there about over thinking things.

Thanks, William. I had a great run today. And I'm looking forward to running 22 miles on Saturday. Napa is just over 5 weeks away.