My plan

So, as I wrote in my introduction, I have some big, audacious goals that I want to accomplish this year! Goals without a plan are merely daydreams, so what am I doing to get to where I want to be? I've been crafting a training a diet plan this week, keeping in mind everything that's worked well, and everything that was a failed experiment in my running to date. I've identified a few principles that have guided my plan:

Principle #1: It doesn't matter how "fit" I am in training if I get to the start line injured. 
Staying healthy is my first priority. Fortunately, I'm already pretty good at this. I have been running for 12 years, and have only had two injuries that have forced me to take a week or more off of running. What did I learn from these injuries that has kept them from happening again?
1. It's really important to vary my training surfaces. I developed extreme IT band tightness in 2003 from training almost exclusively on a track, running in a single direction. This caused asymmetry and imbalance of my large muscles. Now, I try to train on both roads and trails, treadmills and the track.
2. Start where I am, not where I think I should be. As I wrote earlier, I was sidelined for part of my Boston marathon training when I took a 16-mile practice run too hard and on icy conditions. I was so eager to show my fellow charity runners what a badass runner I was, that I ran faster than I could maintain good form. Good running form is critical.

Other things that I will keep in mind to keep myself healthy as I increase mileage and intensity:
1. Strength is key. Say what you will about Dean Karnazes, but I agree with him that overall fitness and strength also is key to preventing injury.
2. I can get more leverage from my training through micro-periodization based on heart-rate variability. Heart-rate variability (variability in the interval between successive heart beats) is correlated with athletic recovery. In the spirit of starting where I am, and working with my body rather than against it, my training on any given day will be informed by my heart-rate variability that morning. If my HRV has dropped, then I will reschedule a hard workout for another day.

Principle #2: Quality over quantity and the minimally effective dose
I've noticed in my running career that I run best when I'm not running mega-mileage. I used to brag about 80-mile weeks, but the truth is that I wasn't getting better when I ran this mileage, but actually progressively getting worse by digging myself into a hole of adrenal fatigue. On the other hand, my last two PRs have been after training only 20-30 miles per week. Note that I don't recommend this for everyone, and that my lifetime of mileage probably allows me to get away with this. Of course, to run 100 miles (to qualify for Western States), I'll need more of a base than this, but I am still approaching my training with more emphasis on quality runs that will increase my endurance, strength and VO2max.

Principle #3: When it comes to diet, it's garbage-in, garbage-out
I was a vegetarian for about 15 years, and I didn't notice that I really felt low-grade lousy most of the time. Again, this is me and my experience, and there are certainly amazing runners like Scott Jurek who are completely vegan. In the last year or so, I've changed my diet to be more of a paleo-style template, and have felt much better. In particular, I used to never feel fully recovered in my running, but now I rarely feel sore for long after a race or workout. It's also given me more of an awareness about how particular foods make me feel.

That said, I struggle with wanting to eat the things that make me feel lousy and don't support my training goals: cookies, banana bread, cocktails and beer. From my experience of having struggled with eating disorders, I can also easily adopt all-or-none thinking that puts more further away from my goals. Therefore, my approach to diet is going to be more of a mindset shift away from "diet thinking" and towards being mindful of the following question: Is this high-quality fuel that will support my training goals? I love Eric Orton's approach to this. In this book, he writes "To me, the question of nutrition in more about mind-set: with the commitment to becoming an athlete, and living as an athlete, comes the sense that you will live with awareness. That includes awareness of what you put in your mouth". He goes on not to recommend any particular dogma about eating, but rather to make the best choices.

Principle #4: Mastering my mind is as important as mastering my body
My internal states and internal chatter mean so much here. I had excellent preparation for the Boston marathon, yet let my negative feelings drag me down. Conversely, I had no specific expectations about last year's Chicago marathon other than finishing, and got a 3 minute PR from a previous PR where I had similarly little prep, but had the mental plan of keeping my heart rate in a good aerobic zone until mile 19, and then letting it fly on the downhills. My new challenge will be keeping my goal in mind, keeping myself believing that my goal is possible, and staying out of my own way!

So, putting this all together, my specific plan involves the following:
1. Eric Orton's marathon training plan for the SF marathon and the Chicago marathon.
I love his approach, and his 50-mile plan got me through the NF50 in 2012. Each time I follow one of his plans, I get stronger, faster and leaner while avoiding overtraining.
2. Strength training.
In addition to the foot strengthening in the marathon plan, 4 days a week I will be doing bodyweight and plyometric exercises. The idea here is to increase overall athleticism, mobility and balance. This increases VO2max, prevents injury and improves running economy.
3. A radical shift in diet.
I used to use my running as an excuse to eat anything I wanted. "Oh, I ran 20 miles today. I totally deserve to go out for pizza and beer". But except for a few adolescent males, you can't out-exercise a crappy diet. A second excuse of mine is the 80-20 rule: if I eat exceptionally well 80% of the time, then I can totally kick up my heels 20%, right? Maybe some people can, but my body is the way it is right now because of this thinking. And especially when 20% turns into 25% and then 30%, we start getting into some real trouble! So, right now I am calling done on all of the things that don't support my health and my training. Because I am sensing real reluctance in myself about this part of the plan, and because I know that this part will be so essential to my success, I will be using this blog to post what I've been eating as a method of accountability.
4. Mindfulness training
I am going to train my mind like I train my body, so that I can be able to get outside of my own negative thoughts, and to encourage positive thoughts that support my goals.

100 days until the San Francisco marathon! Let's do this!!