Sep
23
Taking your Metrics Beyond the Log
In a previous post, I extolled the virtues of being a metrics-driven runner. Obviously, implicit in using metrics to monitor and improve your running performance is the use of a log, whether paper, digital, or online (and I use a combination of Garmin Connect and Dailymile for such purposes). However, if you really want to get granular and see how your training is progressing, you really can’t beat a good old 1980’s style spreadsheet.
This reminder came to me courtesy of Joe Maruchella of Joe (Still) Runs for Dom. He has posted updates of his own repeat tracking sheets for the hill training he has done this past summer (and his progress is impressive). And, even more importantly, the progress is laid out right there for him to see and feel, helping him know that he is making big strides towards reaching his 40-minute 10K and marathon race goals.
Inspired by this, I went back through my Akron Marathon training and took the same approach, looking at hill intervals and 800/1600 flat (relatively) intervals. This was a bit more complex, as I took a different approach than Joe by increasing the length of my intervals over the training period. I’m not stating that this method is necessarily better; I chose to do it due to the lengthy hills on the back end of Akron, and having experimented and failed miserably at starting with 800m hill intervals back before my formal marathon training began. So it is a little tough to compare 800m intervals with 400m intervals, but I still think some valuable lessons can be drawn. Here are the results.
What did I learn?
- Let myself slack a little bit on some of the 600m hill repeats – I think I got scared when I nearly bailed on my first attempt at the longer distance, and was too conservative thereafter. I certainly could blast through the 800m hills at a better pace (though improved weather conditions may have helped too).
- Wow, did I shift too far in favor of 800m intervals vs. the 1600m’s (even though I have a strongly stated preference for 1600m intervals). Need to rebalance that the next time around.
- I saw only slight improvements, if any, in average interval time – but should consider it a victory that I could hold pace while increasing the quantity of intervals. That, after all, really is the ultimate goal; one shouldn’t count on improving both pace and distance/quantity at the same time.
- I still need to get better at going progressive on my interval work – tend to do the early ones too fast and the latter ones too slow. This improved a little bit through the cycle (except for the last 1600 on the maybe-excessive 6 x 1600 workout I like to throw in).
- Finally, I only put this together after the fact – too late to make adjustments. Next time I’ll keep it up to date and try to learn and correct as the training proceeds.
Obviously, you could track times/paces on long runs this way too, looking at how your splits lay out as well as the total time. There are a lot of other “input variable” like weather, hills, and fatigue that can affect your results, so you do need to be careful not to jump to hasty conclusions. I also find plotting performance handy for learning pacing lessons from past marathons, and will share more on that in the near future. Has anyone else found good success using spreadsheets to track their runs?
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