What are the BENEFITS of this RUN?

Training Advice/Discussion Marathon

14 years ago 09/10/2009 3:17pm EDT

so history and workouts so far this season and college coach all point me at 5:45 for my marathon pace.

However, this past sunday my legs/system just were not feeling it. I was supposed to do a an hour warmup followed by 10-12 miles at MP. BUT, MP turned out to be 5:55 and I cut it short at 8 miles.

So... lets just say it was a bad day and my system was in a funk - does this still count as 8 miles at MP effort? Do I still reap any of the benefits? or is this junk mileage?

What are your thoughts? should I just bag it next time this happens (like after 1-2 miles) and just try again the next day?

14 years ago 09/10/2009 3:28pm EDT

re: question poser dude

Sometime, it's okay to be tired. That's where we advance. When I'm up high bagging peaks, I'd do anything to quit. But, once I summit, all the brutal suffering was worth it.

14 years ago 09/10/2009 4:31pm EDT

re: question poser dude

your body recognizes the effort, and 10 seconds per mile is not all that much anyway, your body could be tired. Take a couple easy days.

14 years ago 09/10/2009 5:08pm EDT

re: simple answer

that was my initial inclination that my body still recognizes the effort. thanks guys.

14 years ago 09/10/2009 5:55pm EDT

re: question poser dude

I have no opinion on the physical benefits, but IMHO you would have been better toughing it out for the 10, as mental training. Being mentally tough requires continual practice, and I fear that quitting a workout early because you can't quite hit your paces can encourage bad mental habits.

I know that from time to time I've had a long tempo where I just can't seem to hit my target pace. In those cases, it's been very tempting to quit, but I've hung on and forced myself to finish it, even if it's slower (exception: I do drop out if I'm having an asthma attack or something starts really hurting). Later, in races, I've been able to rely on the memory of toughing it out in bad workouts to help myself hang on to the finish.

My philosophy: the good workouts build you physically; the bad day workouts can build you mentally, if you tough them out.

14 years ago 09/10/2009 10:23pm EDT

re: question poser dude

I'm not even close to being an expert, but I think it depends how far out from your race you are. I am under the impression that the closer to the race you get the closer to your race pace you want the workouts to be.

You can do a workout slower than the 5:45 pace you think is your marathon pace as long as it's the same internal effort and it's still early in the season. Once you're into mid- and late-season workouts you want them to be external efforts (i.e. you hit the pace or you pack it in and try again tomorrow).

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What are the BENEFITS of this RUN?

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