While going through old half-written drafts of blog posts, I found this one that I last edited on Feb. 1, 2012. It was supposed to be the third installment of my “non-training” plan for running. Much has happened since then: I’ve run much faster times, I’ve run an ultra, and I’ve also taken most of the last 15 months off from running due to an angry IT band that made me shelve running in an attempt to rearrange my mental status. I have a lot more to say about that in the near future (spoiler: I failed at rearranging my mental status). But I wanted to throw this blog post out there first as a kind of a preamble to some future posts.
Ultimately, I think the reason I never finished the blog post is because I had summed it up in this earlier July 2011 post. I still think that post is good for non-professional runners/athletes to think about. If you’re married to a training plan and it’s either causing you stress or you aren’t seeing improvement, try something drastic. Try going outside the box, even if only to shake things up for a few months.
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First written Feb. 1, 2012
“That’s the only plan I’ve got – to not have a plan.” If director Baz Luhrmann (of Moulin Rouge fame) can say it, I can repeat it.
A year ago, I was finally back to running after a stress fracture that dashed many dreams and was the final straw that caused me to upend my life. I was so grateful to be able to run, but I was also careful to avoid overdoing it too soon. I was in uncharted territory, because there is no running plan for, “the flat-footed runner who gets a tibial stress fracture that lasts for four months.” I was on my own and had to go by feel.
And that’s exactly what I did. A year ago, I dared to restart my running plans by giving into Katie’s peer pressure and registering for a half-marathon in March. I didn’t plot out a full training plan, because I just didn’t know what my legs could do. Thus, “Layla’s Unconventional Training Plan” was born.
I wrote about it in March, after smashing my previous record at that race Katie talked me into, and then having a ball at another race two weeks later. Seriously, I smiled my way through 13.1 miles in Oakland. Yes, Oakland.
People were supportive, since I was coming back from injury, but they were also skeptical. I didn’t mind, because I was secretly a bit skeptical, too. I knew this was the right method for me at that time, but I didn’t know if it would translate to better race times. It did keep working, though, and in July I wrote about it some more.
By then, my skepticism was gone. I still don’t think my friends were convinced, but they did see the ironclad proof in my race results. Then came the New York Marathon, where I did better than expected. And then there was last month’s Texas Marathon, where I broke 4 hours. The only training plan I had for those marathons was a note in my calendar two weeks before each race: “Run 20ish miles.”
As I’ve said before, this is NOT a method for a new runner or someone doing their first race. I would never, ever recommend such a thing, because it would likely lead to injury and under-training. You need to be able to run the distance, and do so without being hurt. If you don’t know how to do that, it means you need a training plan. (I recommended a few links for such plans.)
What I’m about to say is not medical advice. I’m not a doctor, I’m not a certified running coach, and my science classes in high school were appallingly bad. But I’m going to say it anyway: If you’ve battled frequent injuries, maybe you should try throwing your training plan out the window. Maybe you should just run when you can and when it doesn’t hurt. Get some exercise, but mix it up and do something else if running hurts. Hell, try a whole different sport. Embrace life. LIVE LIFE. If you truly love running, give it some time and it will eventually love you back. Go read the basic tenets of my unconventional training.
And then come back and tell me how what you thought of the experiment. If it was awful, I still want to hear.