Hey there!
Just a quick overview of the 2nd week of Dopey Challenge training for the January 2019 Dopey Challenge.
I managed to catch a cold this week that knocked me down pretty hard! And it definitely impacted my running this week.
I got my 3 miles in on Tuesday as scheduled but I missed my 5 miles on Wednesday (because I was sleeping) and then missed my 3 miles on Thursday. Thursday’s run was partly because I was still sick but also due to having some other family commitments that night which I figured might happen anyway. I did run Friday night for 3 miles to make up for Thursday’s missed run though.
Saturday I got in my scheduled 5 mile run plus I did a 2.5 mile walk with the dogs to make up for some of the lost miles from Wednesday.
And then on Sunday I got in the 11 miles I had scheduled. That was a tough run – 11 miles is about my limit right now and with coming off being sick, I had to fight for every step. But I got it done in the end.
So, as a question to everyone – what do you do if you have to miss a run in your training schedule?
Obviously consistency is key for marathon training and you don’t want to miss too many runs but missing one here or there probably isn’t the end of the world. That being said, always get your long runs in!
I also wouldn’t beat yourself up about trying to make back up the mileage in your other runs or that kind of thing. If your training plan is sufficiently challenging, you are probably asking for trouble by pushing things and adding miles to days when you should be taking it easy.
I can see the other side too though but for me, I want to reduce the risk of injury and that means that sometimes life will get in the way of a run or two…and that is ok.
For reference if anyone is interested here are some comparisons I did for a few of my marathon training periods where I compared what my scheduled miles were versus what I actually ran. They are kind of interesting and support what I said above – be consistent, get in your long runs and don’t sweat missing a run here or there if life and health make it necessary!
Manitoba Marathon 2014 – scheduled versus actual
https://biggoofyrunner.com/18-week-training-plan/manitoba-marathon-2014-scheduled-miles-versus-actual-comparison/
Manitoba Marathon 2013 – scheduled versus actual
https://biggoofyrunner.com/18-week-training-plan/manitoba-marathon-training-plan-scheduled-versus-actual-comparison/
Goofy Challenge 2013 – scheduled versus actual
https://biggoofyrunner.com/18-week-training-plan/goofy-2013-training-plan-analysis-of-scheduled-versus-actual/
And with that, on to week 3! The schedule has the mid length runs bumping from 5 miles up to 6 his week and I will be moving the shorter 3 milers up to 4s. Sunday moves down to 9 ( to make up for all the other runs getting longer) but week 4 will give me a half marathon distance for my long run – so that should be interesting as I haven’t gone that length since Dopey Challenge back in January!
Anyway, thanks for reading and follow along as I keep pushing forward!
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