“…When you grow up, (Time) begins to move faster and faster, slipping away from you in great chunks if you don't hold tightly onto it. Time is a pretty pony, with a wicked heart.” – Stephen King, ‘My Pretty Pony’, published in “Nightmares and Dreamscapes”
How is it JUNE already??????
A lifelong fan of Stephen King, I remember reading ‘My Pretty Pony’ the summer before I started high school and totally not getting it. The school year was SO LONG. Summer days at the pool sitting between my mother’s insecurities about her body as and that of her awkward pre-teen daughter were SO LONG. I never believed that pony would run faster.
Then *poof* I’m almost 40.
And it’s June.
Twenty weeks is SO LONG. It sounds way too long for a training plan. It sounds way too long for anything. I mean, sheesh, that is a BIG ask, why does your coach DO that?
Because she loves you. Because she knows that 20 weeks can fly by as quickly as twenty years; because she wants to make sure you are on track.
Twin Cities Marathoners started on May 15 and should be on week 4 at the time this email is sent. Marine Corps Marathon training (ahem, for those runners who are NOT doing "all of the races this summer, or who manage to not run with Abhi Vanessa and Gerard) kicks off next week. Philadelphia racers have a bit more time, they start a month from now, but don’t think that won’t be here before you know it.
Please do NOT make the mistake of looking at the first 12 weeks of your plan and thinking, ‘I don’t need THAT MUCH base-building.’ Because you’re right, you probably don’t. Look what happens over those 12 weeks, though. The runs get longer and longer. The days don’t. it takes two weeks for the benefit of a single workout to present, and we have to be really consistent about strength work for it to add up to tangible change.
When you look at it from that perspective, 12 weeks may not be long enough.
Hopefully, you are reading this because you paid me cash money and wanna get your money's worth. I hope that means you are already taking the strength work in your plan super seriously. If not yet, NOW IS A GREAT TIME TO START!!!!
It’s time to get serious about getting strong. We have a very short window, and that window is wide open right now. WE HAVE JUNE AND JULY TO FOCUS ON STRENGTH BEFORE THE RUNS GET LONGER AND THE HARD EFFORTS MORE SPECIFIC. THERE WILL NOT BE A TIME FOR DO-OVERS FOR STRENGTH BEFORE FALL RACE DAY.
Make an SSSC chart for yourself to match the chore chart you give your kids. Get a buddy to join you. Grab a texting/accountability partner from the Facebook group. Find a routine you can stick with, and DO IT. If this means you do the strength work first and end the run early on the days you run out of time, I’m good with that. Most of you have been running with me for a year or longer, at that point we can cut those (tiny, occasional) corners from your easy effort runs, BUT ONLY to accommodate strength.
You are coached. You are loved. Make sure that pony doesn’t run off and leave you behind, and we will WIN at life.
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