Apparently I need to do a Gap Analysis

No doubt about it, the Runner Makeover project has me thinking.  Thinking about my own “before,” my preferred “after,” and that dreaded – and thus far, ignored – gap between the two.

Following Aleks, Brock and Chrystal has led to some startling “ah-ha” moments. I am making mistakes that, until reading their blogs, I had never really noticed on a conscious level.  Then there are the mistakes that I am making when I bloody well know better.

From the first category, there’s Brock’s pattern of “Einstein’s Insanity” – what Tania terms the “marathon merry-go-round” – running marathon after marathon in hopes of better results, when really, it would be more benefit to back off the distance and focus on speed for a while.  I was chatting with Tania about this, trying to rationalize it (“but once you’ve built up a base with those kinds of distances, you don’t want to give that up!”) , but of course she set me straight: without the humungous long runs, you recover better and have more to give to those quality speed workouts.  I know she’s right, but I just have one more revolution on the merry-go-round before I am willing to jump off (I am already registered! Though I must admit, ever since that conversation with Tania, my heart’s not in it so much…) and try something else.

From the second category, the “I know better, what the heck is wrong with me?” comes the nutrition advice.  I hired a sports nutritionist a year ago to help straighten me out.  It worked really well!  My diet improved, I got off the high-low sugar cycle (another merry-go-round!), and my training and recovery improved significantly. Now I try to do what I was told without going back and reading my notes and materials on the subject, and as time goes by I forget some of the subtle but important pieces that go into it.  Reading Lauren Jawno’s advice, as well as Brock and Chrystal’s responses, reminded me that I am just not trying very hard – then I wonder why I have a giant sugar crash in the middle of a race and my legs turn to jelly.

My gap analysis is far from complete – these are things that come to me just off the top of my head -, but if nothing else, it has become really clear that I need to do one and either re-evaluate my strategy, or re-evaluate my goals.