About a month ago, before I injured my back, I was pretty sure that I was on the road to a 2:20 half-marathon if not a PR at the Earth Day Half-Marathon. I was getting in my tempo runs and my fartleks. I was running about a 10:30-10:45min/mile on my longer runs. I felt confident that the jolt of race day adrenaline and my training would put my goals within reach.
Coming back from my injury, I missed a week of training and a double digit long run. I also had to cut a couple of runs short because my back was starting to bother me in the final miles and I wanted to err on the side of caution rather than aggravate the injury and have difficulty just moving, sitting, and lying down again. I haven't been able to push myself in terms of pace, and my long run times have slowed significantly as a result.
Because of all this, I've been forced to take stock of my goals for this upcoming race on Sunday. It's not the only half-marathon I'll be running this year, and I have a full marathon coming up in June. Thus, I have decided that my only goal for this race is to finish. I'm going to listen to my body and have a good time. If I need to slow down or walk for a minute or two here and there, I will. It's disappointing, but I would much rather that my back continue to get a bit better each day than to have a serious set-back that would mean that I am unable to continue training for the marathon.
How do you deal with having to realign your goals with your training realities? What's your process for setting running goals?
I'm sorry that your back is still bothering you! I hope you're 100% soon.
ReplyDeleteI usually train with a goal in mind and then, a week or two before the race, I reevaluate where I am, where I should be, and where I expect to be on race day. And on the morning of the race I do a final evaluation based on the weather, how I'm feeling, etc. There is no shame in changing your goals at the last minute, especially when you're bouncing back from an injury. But even when you know that, it's still disappointing.
I tell myself that I want to run forever. When you look at it that way, one race is really just a small part of the running process. Good luck in your half! I can't wait to read all about it. :)
I'm sorry you have to do it, but I'm also happy to hear you are! So often newer runners can't see the forest through the trees and push beyond what they should, paying for it later. You have a lifetime of races ahead of you and better to focus on keeping injury at bay now. A tough pill to swallow, I know, but you'd be kicking yourself otherwise!
ReplyDeleteI think that is a good way to approach this race - esp since you have a full marathon ahead of you. You can treat it as a race-environment training run, which is always benenficial when training for something like a marathon.
ReplyDeleteI have had to re-adjust goals. And re-evaluate racing plans. I used to be stubborn and would just go with my plan because, gosh darnit, I said I was going to do it. Now that I know myself better and know the risks of injury, I have gotten smarter about adjusting. I had to re-adjust my racing plans for this summer because trianing for that 10 miler showed me that I am too overwhelmed w/ studying for these exams to really give enough time to training... so the half marathons I wanted to do in early summer wil have to wait until late summer or early fall..
Sounds like a great approach. I have a half on May 1st and I'm also just going to say, "Ok, today I just want to finish." Sometimes life just gets in the way!
ReplyDeleteFinishing is still an impressive goal! I can't imagine how you fit in everything you do. You're going to be great and it looks like the weather may cooperate!
ReplyDeleteI think that's a great goal! Good luck on the race tomorrow! :0)
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