Practice Has Begun / Choosing Goal Paces

As we move into the first week of training, let's start with some perspective from Gladwell.... (Via twitter feed of @Running_Junkie): 

"Practice isn't the thing you do once you're good. It's the thing you do that makes you good." ~Malcolm Gladwell 

We all begin practicing this week in preparation for our respective goals.  In talking with several of you, I know there are those with specific goals and others not so much. I wonder if the specificity of the goal is linked to current life demands/circumstances and how much time we have to devote to practicing for the goal.  

This week is also the moment where a plan might become useful-for those who prefer that scaffold. 

My goal is to improve upon my last marathon performance from April at the Lansing Marathon, and I've already mentioned I'm using a Hal Higdon plan.  

Deciding on goal paces for race day and for training should be considered now also. For me this is based on my recent benchmark times and figuring what those times tell me I can reasonably expect to do in a marathon.  My most recent benchmarks are 10K races, so I will use those times to predict what I can do in a marathon (with proper training).  To do this I look at freely available online running prediction calculators like the Jack Daniels one linked at http://www.runsmartproject.com/calculator/.  From there I can get an idea of how fast I might be able to run my next marathon but also of how fast I should run different types of training runs. I've found this type of tool helpful in that it guides me in deciding how fast to train. In other words it reminds me to keep my easy runs easy and my hard runs hard. 

Sharing:

- I enjoyed this article from Outside magazine on nutrition: http://www.outsideonline.com/fitness/nutrition/The-Secret-Food-of-Athletes.html

- from bengreenfield.com: When choosing protein powder, look for an organic protein source, zero soy or artificial sweeteners, and ingredients to help digest protein. Dave, please post a link to the protein powder you use - the one you were thinking about entering into holy matrimony with

- Lots of indoor running this weekend for me.  What about you? Did you get outside?

- Here's my perspective from the treadmill I was on this morning (Jackson Pollack style):