Words I like: "Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth." — Mike Tyson

Hybrid Minute: The Plan Is Not The Point

Three weeks out from my first half marathon, I am not where I planned to be.

A 5-day trip to Marrakech with my mother. No training. Already planned for it — no regrets there. But what I didn't plan for was that an earlier injury had already pushed everything back. So the days off landed in the worst possible spot.

Then I got sick. Nothing dramatic. Just a cold that killed my sleep for days and kept me in bed for 2 days in total.

I looked at my plan and felt like I was watching a race slip away.

That felt like failure.

But here is what I actually did. On the days I was really sick I waited it out. On the days I started coming back I went to the gym, ran my normal program, kept 4 reps in the tank on every set, dropped the weight seriously, and made one rule: feel better at the end than when I started. More rest between sets. Easy runs only. Just enjoy the movement.

It felt unnatural to hold back that much. But it worked.

And somewhere in that process something shifted. I had to let go of my time goal for the race. That was hard to accept. But I am at a point now where I just want to run a controlled race and enjoy it. It is my first half marathon. It is always a PR.

This taught me something I keep relearning:

A plan that only works in perfect weeks is not a plan. It is a wish.

The question is never what is the best program, the best split, the best rep range, the best run schedule. The question is what can you actually do this week, with what you have, and still move forward.

How to use it:

Adjust or stall. Those are the only two options.

Paco

PS: Performance is not always the goal. Sometimes finishing the week still standing is the win.