I was recently fretting because I was afraid I wasn't really improving, that without an organized training plan, I was just exercising with no focused path toward increased speed and distance. I tried to convince myself that in fact I was doing fine just following what my body wanted to do, increasing when I had the time and the ability. But a part of me continued (continues, to be honest) to be critical of my training. A part of me is convinced that I'm not doing it right, that I'm not really working hard enough at this, that I'm not a "real" triathlete in training or I'd be doing x, y, or z.
I'm not going to keep arguing with that part of myself, as long as it doesn't stop me from training. I will, however, note the following... Last week was my longest run week since I started training. I ran 19.5 miles, much of it over the new longer run I've been trying to turn into my standard run. Then two days ago when I entered my taper week, I did my oldest standard run, which is just under 3 miles. Ohmygod fast! I cut nearly two minutes/mile off my time. I completed the entire run in 30 minutes. I felt strong and fast, and like I could have kept going, and kept up that pace.
We will ignore the fact that this morning my run went like this: okay, time to get dressed and do the same run. well, maybe I'll just do two miles. Halfway down our block: this hurts, I'm going to go sit on the couch and post to my blog instead of running. After all, I'm supposed to be tapering, aren't I? Is there a difference between tapering and sitting on the couch? I hope not...
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