Thursday, August 9, 2012

Planning your workouts - Convenience or What's Best for the Workout?

From my triathlon......more pics later.


I usually plan my weekly workouts on Sunday night. I haven't been doing it lately as in the summer it is a bit easier to fit it all in and I'm not on any workout plans. Really?  Aren't I doing a half marathon in about a week and a triathlon one week later?  I guess I am going with the casual approach - so not me!  But when I make plans or just fit it in I am definitely guilty of doing my workouts when it fits best into my schedule. Too many runs close together, a long run followed by a speed workout, workouts packed into five days with two days off but not for a taper.  Yup. Those are all things I do.  I know it's not best but I figure if I can fit in my workouts that is better than ideal timing.

But I did think about this today. Yesterday I had that hot long 12 mile run which I felt tired from all day.  Truthfully I still felt tired when I got up this morning. But my plans were to do a practice tri again at Lake Dunmore so off I went.  Once I got my wet suit on I stood beside the lake. I checked my phone, I looked around, I did nothing. I wasn't feeling it.....but finally I got in.  I did get through all 3 disciplines and it wasn't awful but it was not as fast as last time which obviously isn't what I was hoping for.  The bike was less than a minute slower but the run was almost 3 minutes slower. Ouch.  In a 5K that is one minute per mile slower.  I knew I was slower but I didn't realize it was that much slower.

Would it have been better to plan my workouts differently this week?  I would think so. But maybe doing this tired will make it that much easier come race day.   I do feel I need to be aware that I am not exactly a young runner and think about that.  It's hard to fit it all in and I guess we each just do it in the best way we can.

What works best for you?

11 comments:

Char said...

I love having a program but this year it's had to go out the window and I just aim to run as much as my body will let me. Some weeks it's more and others, like this week, it's less. C'est la vie. I can't fight it so I'm just going with the tide.

Kate Geisen said...

Planning? What's that? :) I really need a plan to make me stay on track, but I haven't really had one since my marathon.

Christina said...

I think it is hard to plan a workout around "life in general." I believe we somehow plan workouts around life and life around workouts - both at the same time.

Listening to your body is probably one important lesson I learned about running. There were a few times where I just stuck with the plan despite the body saying "no" and ended up getting injured and sidelined.

Jill said...

I have always been a HUGE planner; but when I came back from my foot injury, I've spent almost a year just doing whatever. It feels good to be back on a plan again.

Amy said...

I think we all just have to do the best we can to fit things in around the rest of our lives, and sometimes it's not ideal, but certainly better than not doing it at all!

Johann said...

I always have a very long term plan and my daily workouts are planned more than a year ahead. The actual plan is for my main goals which is 5 years ahead! Yes, I am crazy. I do adapt daily workouts to life though, but because my week runs are all between 4 and 6 AM I stick to the program in general.

Fran said...

You have to do what works best for you.

I'm a planner. I have planned all my workouts till my half marathon in October and am already thinking about what's next.

Every Saturday morning I sit down and look at my workouts for the next week and check if they fit in my schedule for the week. Since I do all my workouts in the morning like Johann I usually stick to them. But I sometimes switch a day when I'm out the night before and know it will be a late one.

If I don't plan, I don't do it. I need a plan/schedule to work with.

Unknown said...

I plan in advance, and I do almost all my training with buddies so I really need to plan to make it work. But then I roll with the punches.if I'm really not feeling it, I'll reschedule or skip something.I figure I'm doing this for fun, not for a living, and if I'm not having fun, what's the point?

Kandi said...

What I am doing now is NOT working for me at all. I have a plan for my long runs (but I missed last week! Eek!) and I usually just plan a few weekly lunch runs around the weather but the weather hasn't let up so I've been slacking. I also went to the beach for 4 days and didn't have as much time to run. I got in a beach run one morning but the other morning it stormed. I have a half in 3 weeks and at this point I'm just hoping to be able to run that far.

Ransick said...

I think fitting the training in is better than skipping workouts, as long as you don't get hurt. The key is to listen to your body and adjust accordingly which may mean more long slow runs and less speed work. Personally, I wouldn't push too hard the day after a long run but doing an easy workout can be good to flush the muscles out.

Lindsay said...

planning weekly?!? that's impressive. i'd make up a schedule at the start of my training plan and pretty much stick to it. ok, *maybe* stick to it. haha. my schedule is pretty much always the same though so setting tuesday (or whatever) as a speedwork day will usually work out unless something comes up.