Trying to be patient

Last week on a local radio station, I heard an interview with former Braves pitching coach, Leo Mazzone. During the interview, he described his method for pitchers and keeping them healhy. Paraphrasing what he said, it basically went like this;throw a lot, but regulate the effort. I said that sounds a lot like the Hanson Method.

The Hanson Method calls for a lot of their runs to be what they call "easy" runs. The advanced program calls for runners to run six days a week and the mileage can look intimidating. It looks  difficult for any runner who who has not run that much in a week ever. Now, the easy runs are supposed to be one-to-two minutes slower than marathon pace for a variety of reasons. My running has been  pretty good this  year and running slower than my typical pace did not sound ideal. Putting  Leo  Mazzone's pitching philosophy and the Hanson method would require patience.

It is easy to see why the program(I am doing the advanced version if I did not mention that) requires so many easy runs/patience. My last few runs have been ones where I have had to exercise that patience and stick to the training program. Saturday, I had a long run ( at 8:05 pace) that ended up with me getting soaked. There were moments where I went slower than I wanted to, but I told myself, "stick to the plan" and  stay close to my pace. The rain on the second half of the 12-mile run sucked; there is no other way to say it. I could have sped up to get the run done, but what good would that have done for the long term goal?  This is probably something I would have done while training last year. On Monday, my first my mile went horrible.  I literally yelled out loud and got pretty upset.  Telling myself to stick to the plan helped me keep it together.

Five and a half weeks of training have passed  and the benefits are showing. I would love to run fast all the time, but there is a method to the madness. A couple of friends have asked me how I got faster; the answer is putting in the miles and being patient.  A lot of people want to be fast, but they do not want to put in the work. For some people, it comes naturally; for most, work needs to be put in. I think that is the best part of the Hanson method program; it requires both.

The moral of the story is that marathon training and running in general requires patience no matter what program you are using. As runners, we all have to remember that patience, hard work and sticking to the plan is a huge part of reaching your goal. Not every run will be perfect. Marathons are a different beast and we need to respect the distance.

I hope training for everyone who reads this is going great! How do you stay patient during the training season?

Mid-year Review

It is hard to imagine, but we are halfway through the year already. Somehow, despite that rough winter, time did not slow down.  I thought it would be fun to take a quick look at some of my goals that I set for myself at the beginning of the year. Here we go:

Run more races/beat my goal times from last year

This is a tough one because it all depends on how I am doing financially. I have lucky enough to participate in two Ragnars (Cape Cod and Chicago) and run the Original 5K. Hopefully things are good for me and I will be able to run the B1G 10k and Rock 'N' Roll Chicago. The B1G 10k looks like a fun race and RNR is one of my favorite half-marathons because of the course and the after party. Training plans also make it difficult to run races. I am keeping my eye on the prize; the Chicago Marathon in October.

The goal times coincides with having money to do races. Rock 'N' Roll and the Chicago Marathon are the only races that I have a chance to beat. Maybe there will be some new races on the calendar for me where I can set new goals to bet.

Run with people more

I would say this goal has been accomplished. The majority of my runs have been solo, but more than once, I have had friends accompany on a long run or a speed workout. It also helped that I worked out a lot with the track team that I helped coach. Running with others mixes things up and keeps you motivated. It also challenges you in ways that makes reaching your goals attainable. This is something that will I keep pursuing.

Staying healthy

So far, so good on this end. There have been minor issues, but nothing that has kept me out of training. Stretching, recovery runs and my addaday stick have been my best friends so far. I set a goal of running at least 1,000 miles and it looks like that will happen easily. Currently, I am at 740 miles! Marathon training will get me over that easily. I will keep doing the things necessary to get to 1,000 and above.

Sidenote: I forgot the six weeks I had to take off after the marathon with a bruised kneecap. My knee connected with something at work and walking hurt for eight weeks; it hurt to straighten my knee out! Thankfully, that is the worst thing that has happened to me so far.

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I am working on this! I am thankful that I can connect with others through outlets like #bibchat and #runchat. It is always fun to hear from others and hear how their training is going.

How are your goals looking so far?