"You Can't Expect What You Don't Inspect!"

A couple of days before one of my marathons, we had dinner with my sister-in-law.  She asked me what I thought my time would be in the upcoming race.  I told her, "For starters, I just wanna finish ... but other than that I should be around 3:21 or 3:22."  I finished the race in 3:22.  A few weeks after that I saw her again and she asked, "How do you know your body so well that you can predict exactly where you'll finish?"  That's not as big as a mystery as it would seem.

After reading me for a while, you know I'm obviously NOT an expert on running. That being said, I do my best to be an expert on my body!  No, I don't mean simply being able to identify all of my anatomical parts in a police line-up, or knowing where all my fingers and toes are at all times.   I mean I try to train in such a way that I know exactly how the race will go before I even run it.  I usually know when I'm going to PR.  And unfortunately, I usually know when I'm not as prepared as I should be.

Admittedly, I'm a bit obsessive.  But after about 8,000 miles since 2008, I've learned a thing or two about myself.  I've learned when I need to back off of my training for a while.  I've learned at certain weights I'm faster.  I've learned by eating certain diets I lose or gain energy.  I know that if I mix in a specific amount of leg weight lifting and ab work, I'll be stronger at the end of a run.  And I pretty much know the specific amount of training mileage that I need to log before a race.  But you pick up all of those things just by just living with yourself mile after mile after mile.

I once heard the phrase, "You can't expect what you don't inspect."  It was in the context of managing people, but it applies to managing my running as well.  Maybe the most important thing I do is DOCUMENT EVERYTHING!  I'm a geek that way.  (Well, I'm a geek in a lot of other ways too ... I mean I DO play fantasy baseball. Yes I freely admit that.)  But as a person that runs several races a year trying to improve my times, it's important to me to have a baseline to measure performance against.  I'm always "inspecting" my training.  And based on those frequent "inspections", I know what to "expect" from the particular race.


I count daily crunches, planks, & push ups and compare them to my 2009 daily notes and how I felt at that point with the same workout.  I know my heart rate like the back of my hand.  I've documented that at temps over 78 degrees with 80% humidity, my first warm up mile should be something slower than 8:45.  I even track how many swallows, and what type of fluid I take at each water stop ... knowing that each swallow is the equivalent of about 1 ounce. (I know, "Get a life" right?)  

I know this isn't for everyone.  Many people train for one or two races a year and just want to make it to the finish line.  Many people run just for fun.  And still others couldn't care less about the finishing times.  I wish I could be a little more like that ... but I'm just not wired that way.  I have to continually be working toward a goal or I seem to lose interest.  The constant documentation and measuring helps keep me focused and driven.

So when you see me post a workout or a race time please understand I'm not fishing for a compliment or an "at-a-boy" ... it's just me being me.  I love and thrive on the numbers and documentation.  In every race I run, I know that I'll finish ahead of many and behind still many more.  But I know that very few races will really surprise me.  Not by accident, a wild guess, or voodoo ... I just usually know what to expect.

...be great today!