Friday, June 17, 2011

"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!

20 comments:

  1. I love my numbers and document almost everything. I just don't follow up with all the information like I should. Thanks for the reminder!

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  2. Atta boy! Oh wait, I take that back.

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  3. One of the cool things of endurance athletes, is that we know our bodies inside and out. We feel ever twinge, soreness, the difference between sore and real pain, when we feel good and when we just dont have it. Its one of the great things about our lifestyle

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  4. Wow! I love numbers, but I hate keeping track of them. I can barely find my running shoes some mornings. ;)

    It's quite impressive. I've never been able to nail a race to an exact minute. Hopefully this Sept I will tho.... :)

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  5. I love this... I'm obsessed with numbers as well when it comes to training. I think it makes you better!

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  6. I too have many years of detailed trianing logs to refer back to...

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  7. I'm the complete opposite, so it's cool that you revel in your geekiness! Happy Father's Day!

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  8. lol, I'm with Tahoegirl!

    That is great that you track everything, I need to get better at that now that I'm running more on a consistent basis. Probably can't hurt to know what happened in the past, so you can try to connect the dots as to what goes right and wrong.

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  9. Yeah, but do you write down the "feels like/heat index" temperature, too?!

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  10. You could make money being a scientist for runners. I'm a fly by night runner. I give myself a half hour window to finish :)

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  11. I also document everything. I have always been that way. I used to swim and our coach would make us write a journal with all the workouts and times in it. I started that in High School.

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  12. Please don't take this the wrong way but don't wish to be anything but who you are. Embrace it.

    I love the fact that I get up at 3am every weekday morning and I love that I am a vegetarian endurance athlete and don't wish to be anything else.

    I am competitive and while I don't compete with names I compete with the times around my finishing times. I look to see where I can improve so I can beat the finishing time ahead of me and I don't apologize for it and I don't wish to be somebody else.

    Embrace who you are and just know that the way you do it is what you enjoy the most.

    Keep being great today, tomorrow and everyday thereafter.

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  13. That's how I am. I need a goal otherwise forget it. My wife asked me "How do you know your going to be at mile 19 at xxx time" I know.

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  14. You crack me up. I love your blog. Yeah, you are obsessive. It works for you.

    I am reading a business book now about how there are 34 'traits' and people should identify their top 5 and build on those vs trying to make improvements in the gaps. We are who we are and the successful people are those who know it and use it to their advantage.

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  15. Aren't most runners numbers people? I think that's why Garmins and HR monitors sell so well. But your data makes mine look woefully inadequate. I just track distance, time, pace, average HR, temp and humidity. I genuflect in the presence of greatness.

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  16. If it ain't broke....!

    I'm glad you're obsessive. I'm going to study your TOU race report as if I were trying to pass the bar.

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  17. I wish I could be a numbers person and really document everything, but that will never be me. I will write out loose training plans for myself for marathons, but that's about it...I never write workouts down, etc. Maybe that's why your marathon PR is 10 minutes faster than mine!

    ; )

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  18. I'm a numbers person, but I don't document nearly as much as you when it comes to running and exercise. I do understand where you are coming from though! Atta boy for doing what you love doing.

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  19. Great post! I am finally starting to learn more about my body and running and I am loving it. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

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