I have been in training since January for various races, including a marathon.

Being “in training” has been a lot of fun and has taught me a lot about running…but because I am a very “follow the book” kind of person. It is difficult for me to adjust anything and not feel like I’m doing something “wrong”.

If my plan says run 12 miles with miles 8-11 at goal half-marathon pace…that is what I am going to try to kill myself to do. You know how it is, someone may be watching! (Reality check…no one is watching, no one knows what the training says to do that day besides me and my husband, and NO ONE CARES!)

Side note- have you ever been following a running drill that has you rest for a certain time and another runner comes up behind you and runs around you…or you are on mile 18 of a 21 miler and some young runner who is hardly breaking a sweat overtakes you and is gone in a flash? Don’t you just want to yell that you have been running for over two hours or that they should have been around when you were doing your sprints???

Summer Heat

This summer we had no choice but to adjust some runs big time because of the heat. Everywhere we trained…Buffalo, Florida, NYC…it was super hot. When you are out the door at 6:30 AM in Florida and it is already over 80? Yeah…you need to adjust the crap out of the plan (although I’m sure runners who live there are made of hardier stuff).

It can be hard for runners to accept that maybe a plan needs to be tweaked a bit on a certain day or even the whole plan has to be fine-tuned. Each of us is different, and a one size fits all plan we find on the internet may not work quite the same for everyone.

Which I know is a “duh”, but I am also stubborn (more stubborn at 51 than I used to be) and want to prove to myself that I can do anything. Especially as an athletic “late-bloomer”. I didn’t start running until I was almost 40, and ran my first marathon only a few months ago. So I’m still learning how to actually be someone who is physically fit.

There are some runs that just suck, and I am learning that it isn’t the end of the world. Sometimes we just need to acknowledge the suck and do something different!

While in NYC this past week, I landed in the afternoon having not done the run for the day. It was freakin 96 degrees! 96!! What the heck. Florida wasn’t anywhere near that and it was hard to run without collapsing!

So I threw what I was SUPPOSED to do out the window, and adjusted the pace down (way down). Luckily my son lives near the Bronx Parkway Bike Path, so it was shaded and even though I felt hot I didn’t feel in danger. I took water in one bottle and NUUN electrolytes in another and ran by feel.

This way I was able to get my run in, but didn’t end up in the hospital doing it!

Lowering Intensity

Now that Dave and I are closing in on the half-marathon, we are adjusting some of the runs to be less mileage or less intense drills.

While visiting our son, we did a lot of walking in NYC and we were out late the night before what was supposed to be a 16-mile run.

So we adjusted our schedule, didn’t run the day we were “supposed” to and did it the next day instead.

The next day, we were “supposed” to run a 2 mile warm up, 8 miles at our half-marathon (goal) pace and a mile cool down.

After 16 miles one day, 11 with a pace goal seemed like work… not much fun.

So, instead of making that demand on myself (and my husband!), we stuck a rest day in between and decided to run 1 mile warm up, 6 miles at half marathon pace and 1 mile cool down (walking if we needed to).

Most of the summer, we have been running the cooldown…which hasn’t been very cooling. Another fine-tuning point…if you have to walk to cool your body down and get your heart rate down DO IT!!

Making Runs Easy

Another way we are going to get our running in balance is to ignore some of the training runs the week before the race. I love the training we are using, but I think it has been a little ambitious for us as far as the mileage.

We will also be doing more of a traditional taper than is called for in the plan. The 16 miles we did felt hard, but not horrible on rested legs, and we were able to enjoy some of the sights of NYC into the Bronx without hating every second.

Since we have a demanding half-marathon with an actual time goal on our hands, we want to go into it feeling strong and not fatigued.

What is the Real Goal

When it comes to adjusting our runs, sometimes we have to look to what we actually want to accomplish. Do we want to be able to say we ran each and every run our training says to exactly as stipulated? Or do we want to strive to meet our real goal, which we can’t do if we are plagued with over-training injuries or being exhausted?

I am learning to tweak and fine-tune, based on what I am feeling. Even running some runs without paying attention to pace or mileage. Just running to run.

One of my goals in the “off-season” (can I say I am in my “off-season” if I’m not really a competitive or elite runner??) is to run how I feel and just run for the joy of running.

Then when I start training again in January for the Buffalo Marathon, I will be ready to hit the higher mileage again and not be fatigued and (hopefully) be injury free.