As Expected

Our new coach sent out pace groups and as expected, my 10k race puts me at a much slower pace than I'd hoped.  The good news is I like the people I'm running with, though a couple of my fave people are in diff groups.  The pace feels insanely easy and slow.  The bad news is I'm really worried this is going to make a PR at Boston impossible.  

Part of me is trying to just repeat:  You have to run slower to run faster. 

I hope that's true.  It's so counter-intuitive, but I'll cross my fingers. 

My very first speed coach (who happens to be my absolute favorite running coach of all time) talked to me for a little while about this Boston training program and she emphasized to me that the coach was going to want to see a huge difference in our runs, which was also what best-coach-ever also wanted to see sometimes.  I remember her telling us at the track that she wanted to be able to look up and instantly tell if we were running hard or easy.  It's so easy to smooth those out and just run at a steady pace, but sometimes that's not best for your running.

When we talked about the Boston class, she said the new coach is going to want to see very slow and very easy "easy runs" and very fast and very hard other runs.  And right now I know full well that we're just in the easy stage.  Just because it feels really, really easy doesn't mean I can effortlessly bring it when it's time to go fast.  Saturday was proof of that! 

It's hard for me to trust other people.  I know this new coach is amazing.  Winner of at least one major marathon, eminently experienced, still insanely fast.  But he hasn't ever been me.  He doesn't know what has and has not worked for me in the past.  So it's hard for me to put faith in a program when my personal experience suggests otherwise.  There have been years I've trained slow -- and raced slow!  I've yet to successfully train slow and race fast.  I know this isn't really "training slow" but that's how it felt this morning. 

But I know I need to trust other people.  You can only improve in running so much on your own.  I had to qualify to be trained by this coach and I barely made it.  I am paying for his expertise.  It makes no sense to disregard it and instead train faster just because it feels okay to me right now.  And I should emphasize those last two words -- right now.  We're still relatively low mileage compared to where we're going in the next few months.  Just because this pace feels insanely easy and slow now doesn't mean it will when I am running over 50 miles in a week.  And even if it feels insanely easy and slow at 50 miles per week, that might still be a good thing because it will mean I have lots more I can bring to the table when we go faster. 

Our first mile today was almost uncomfortable, it felt like it took forever.  We ran just over 8 and it took a loooong time.  I just can't image running this pace now is going to pay off on race day.  By the way, Boston is three months away as of today!

Sorry for the stream of consciousness.  I know what to do -- trust the coach.  Try the program.  See how it turns out in Boston. 

The good news is, even if I don't PR at Boston, it's not the end of the world for me.  My real goal was getting to Boston.  I'd love to PR there, but even then, I don't want a huge PR at the expense of my legs (we're flying to Italy the next day!).  So what do I have to lose by following the program?  A few months of training?  I can spare it! 

Guess this post is making me feel a bit better.  I still wish I'd performed better during the 10k so I could train faster, but maybe the slower training will be for the best.  And if it's not, it's not the end of the world. 

As I learned at White Rock when pacing a friend, the up-side for me to running a slower marathon is that I'm a lot less sore after the fact.  So if I run Boston slower than I dream of running it, it will just mean it's that much easier to wander the hills of Italy two days later.  If I am as sore as I am after a normal PR-effort marathon, it will be a very uncomfortable flight and several days of walking around looking like I'm differently abled.  And Calabria is not handicapped-accessible!!!