achy right knee and hip, am able to run but only at 10:00 pace now

Just Another Marathoner wrote:

jecht wrote:

I'm very mad at myself because had I run a better marathon last fall (under 3:15), I probably wouldn't have to run another cycle for WUC and would have just done my normal 4-6 a day in the off-season for base mileage and maintenance.

I don't know if you'll find this helpful, but I'm also very puzzled when I see you saying things like this and wonder why you're making decisions based on this kind of perspective.

You were in no worse than 3:15 shape in October. Any dissatisfaction you feel over the 3:20 can't be corrected by trying to prove something to yourself by training too hard now. 3:20 vs. 3:12-3:15 was solely the result of your pacing (or nearly so, given what you reported about fueling/water, ... and you probably could've helped yourself with a better plan on LRs 3-4 weeks out).

It really, really is that simple. You didn't meet the 3:15 goal because you made some poor pacing decisions on race day and because pacing itself is a skill you haven't mastered. That's OK; nearly everyone's done that. Don't let that guide you into other unhelpful choices.

Before the race, if you had resolved to go 1:37:45/1:36:15 then followed that plan, you'd have run that (and maybe a bit faster). It was also easy to identify a problem: If you go out faster than 1:35, you'll almost certainly hit the wall, and your best-case scenario is probably a hard fade around 22-24. You went out well faster than 1:35 ... and you hit the wall. You didn't fail to get into 3:15 shape; you didn't have a bad day with GI issues or the flu. Pacing is the beginning and end of what happened on race day.

I don't think it's useful to be mad at yourself at all. It's good to assess your situation, learn from it, and act on useful info. I really hope you're able to set aside the kinds of altered perspectives that frustrate runners (I'm not fit enough, I HAVE to do THIS NOW, I can get fitter and faster than expert coaches say I can if I just push harder, ...).

How's this? "I'm happy I got myself into 3:15 shape. The race was a tough pill to swallow, but I learned from it. I'm following a good plan, and I know how to pace now. Maybe I can go 3:10-3:12 in April or May."

Of course, that's not really the situation now, given the little step back with the injury. I hope you recover quickly and have a good plan moving forward.

And I think it will be great if you eventually get into 3:00 shape. I just don't want you to feel incredibly frustrated, then come on here posting, "After two years of injuries, I decided to follow a good, gradual plan, and it took 18 months, but I finally broke through. I thought I was in 3:00 shape, but I ran a 3:11." The follow-up questions will come in: What did you do? "Well, it was going great. I did the first half in 1:26, then everything fell apart at mile 20. I'm so mad that I can't run any faster than 3:11."

Help yourself out. There's a better way.

I wish you well.