Posted by Chris Forti on April 23, 2008 at 00:12:35:
Grading your performance
Now that the dust has settled, it is now time to take a look back at everything you have accomplished over the past few months. At the beginning of the season you may have created time goal(s) for the race. How did you do versus those goal(s)? You may grade yourself simply on the answer to this question, but the answer is not that simple. If we relate this to how you were graded in school, the marathon is not a pass/ fail class. The overall grade you give yourself is based upon several factors - similar to tests, quizzes and class participation.
Test: The first thing you will do is compare how your finishing time stacks up against that one singular time you had in your head when the season began, but it is more than that – remember, this is not a pass/ fail class! How did that final exam (the race) go? Did you get out comfortably, too fast, or too slow? Did you “fall asleep” in the middle of the race? Were you happy with your final 10K? Did you get enough fluids, gels, etc during the race? Did you remember to relax your form when you got tight? Did you high five little kids on the side of the road?
Quizzes: You had many of these throughout the training season – long runs, interval workouts and/ or races. How did they go? Did you not run enough miles this training season? Too many? Was the pace of your long runs and/ or interval workouts any indication of your fitness level come race day? If not, how come? Most importantly, what did you learn from this training season (long runs, workouts and/ or races) that you can take with you for the future?
Class Participation: You just trained for and finished a marathon! And not just ANY marathon, but one of the toughest in the world. That itself is a tremendous accomplishment and we all get an “A” in this section!!
Considering ALL of this, what is the grade you give yourself? Think long and hard about it because many factors go into this grade and not all of them are tangible. Congratulations again on an amazing race!! See you all out on the roads again soon.
Coach 40
PS You’ll be happy to know this will be the last time this training season you will have to hear from me. :)