VibeTraining

I’m running the Wine Glass Half Marathon in October. The last time I ran one was 3 years ago. I was 55 then and finished in 1:59:31 or 9:07/mile.

This time I’ll be 58 and I would like to beat 1:55:00 or 8:46/mile.

I punched my details into ChatGPT and it gave me a training program that looks thorough and rigorous and boring as hell. Here is two weeks of it:

We are all different and for some this might be a great plan but it is not for me.

There is zero chance I could ever follow this and if I had to I wouldn't enjoy training or running the race.

Instead, I’m going to VibeTrain.

VibeTraining is when I have an idea of what it takes to achieve a goal but instead of following a highly structured protocol, I approach the goal more intuitively and base my goal path more on how I feel and what I enjoy rather than a tightly defined protocol.

It is less optimized & more harmonized,

And reminds me of this line from one of my favorite poems by Theodore Roethke:

I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.

I learn by going where I have to go.

Tenets of VibeTraining

Here are six tenets of VibeTraining. I am just making this up so maybe there will be more at some point or maybe less.

1. It is not optimized. I don’t want to be optimized. I am not training for the Olympics. I am training to feel great and stay healthy for longer. I am training to sustain the training.

2. It stays fun. Some days I will go for a swim or go for a hike or row or do a pull up challenge with my kids instead of doing something that I should do.

I don’t care. I would rather just enjoy the whole thing.

3. You have to have a clue. You probably have to already have an idea what you are doing. I’ve run a few of these before. I’ve been running a lot and have a good base. I am already in tune with how my body feels and when I need to rest. 

If this was my first race, maybe I would need to be more structured.

4. Tuning Body and Spirit. VibeTraining promotes being tuned into my body and spirit. This one is huge. When I wake up in the morning, I notice how I feel and then everything else falls into place. Sometimes I just take a day off. Sometimes I go harder than you’d think because I just feel great.

It is inside out, not outside in.

5. Don't get injured. Since I am riffing off how I feel rather than a protocol, there is much less chance that I will get injured. A lot of times, people get injured because they train too hard and ignore the signals their bodies are sending them. If the protocol says long run, they do it even though maybe they pulled something the day before.

If I wake up one morning and notice a tweak in my leg, I’ll take the day. No big deal.

6. There is still some structure. Even though there is much less structure than with a strict protocol, there still is some structure. 

I am going to do longer and longer runs most Sunday mornings leading up to the week before the race. That’s structure. 

I’m still going to eat clean and go to bed early. That’s structure.

I am still going to taper the week leading into the race. That’s structure.

Have a great day everybody!