When you are running nearly every day and so very gradually adding total weekly miles, miles to your long run and speed, but none all at once, it is really hard to see your progress. It is happening so gradually it doesn't seem to be happening at all. That is what I love about tracking your mileage (I use Strava because it also tracks elevation as well as miles). You can look back over time and see the progression, even when you feel like you aren't getting anywhere. I have been officially training for about 6 weeks and if you asked me what I had accomplished in that time, based on my subjective assessment of myself, I would say not much... gotten a tad faster, more consistent, added some weekly mileage but haven't been able to add hardly anything to my long runs. But 6 weeks is a long time! I should have something more to show for that right?????
Not so fast... looking at the stats, I started 6 weeks ago at 20-25 miles a week, 10-12 min/mile average paces, 10 mile long run. In that time, I had to take a week off for a horrible case of strep throat which brought me to my knees, suffered the seemingly undying heat from a lingering summer, and took a week largely off for general fatigue and wear & tear. Despite this, I am now at 30 miles a week, 9-11 min/mile average paces, 12 mile long run. So while it's frustrating that I haven't been able to add much mileage to my long run over that time, I have added a significant number of weekly miles, and shaved some decent time off of them (although much of this can be attributed to the cooler temps).
And more than that, the major goal of your training schedule - regardless of what that schedule may be - is to gradually add weekly & long run mileage and increase speed in a way that challenges your body to strengthen so that it can tolerate the increased activity demands without injury. In short, if you are able to be adding miles and increasing speed in a comfortable way without injuring yourself, you you are accomplishing the main point of training. Sure I could probably up and finish a marathon just based on the extent of my training so far. But it wouldn't be pretty. I would be slow as hell, and I would injure myself in the process, potentially permanently. While I am dead-set on running the marathon, I want to do it safely, and I want to give myself the best shot at finishing strong. So when it comes down to it, I have been training for 6 weeks and what I have to show for it is a strong body that can now comfortably run 30 miles a week, run at a quickened pace of a 8-10 mile/min for a shorter cooler run, and drop down to a 10-12 min/mile for a longer 12 mile run. Sure, I have had to take some breaks here and there, and pull back and listen to my body when it tells me I'm pushing it too far, but the goal isn't to stick to the training schedule no matter what; the goal is to use it as a guideline to follow as I prepare my body in the most efficient way possible for a very physically demanding event in the near future. It would be more advantageous to me to not reach my peak goals in training if I can do it by not injuring myself and being fully rested and trained by peak day, than to trash my body to reach an unrealistic training goal if my body is just not capable of doing it comfortably it in this time-frame, and heading into race day injured.
This Sat I am supposed to be doing a 16 mile long run. I was supposed to do a 14 mile long run two weeks ago, and I only got to 12. So my goal is 14, and if I am able to do this I am technically only 2 miles behind my training schedule. Mentally I'm thinking "I'm supposed to be at 16 and I'm only at 12" but by looking back at the data, I can put my emotions to rest and realize I've done well and can push forward as my body allows, but hold back if that's what my body needs.
