Spring Race Plan

A few weeks ago, I had the insane idea that I would run a half marathon every month in 2017. After spending an entire Sunday plotting, pricing, and spread sheeting the hell out of the idea, I thought about my goals for 2017. In 2017, I'd really like to get faster. I looked at running a race every month in 2017... would that really help with my goal of getting faster? Maybe, maybe not. By spending money to travel for races during not great racing months (February, July, August) I was taking away from being able to double up on some months where it is beautiful to race around here--April, May, October.

I decided to scrap the plan for now, but I will do it someday when I have more of a focus on quantity over quality (and perhaps when my bank account has a lot more $$$ in it so I can travel to some really great locations!).

My plan for the spring is to travel to Dallas in January to see my family and Dominique. In March, I'll travel to San Antonio with Kyle for a work trip (that conveniently falls on the weekend of the Alamo 13.1!), and then my goal race for the spring will be the Brookings Half.

I recently learned that Pete Pfitzinger has a new book specifically for 5ks-half marathons, Faster Road Racing: 5K to Half Marathon. I have had a love affair with his book for marathoners, Advanced Marathoning, and ran my 10k and half marathon PRs during tune up races while training for a full on his plan in 2011.

This go around, I'm working through a 10 week base building program that will get me from my current mileage to 30 miles a week. I do have to modify it a bit, because during that first 10 weeks I'll be running the half in Dallas. More or less as a fun run slash reason to keep running during December/January when it is so much easier to stop running here!

The 12 week program will peak at 47 miles (eeps!) and has great progression through the different stages of training, similar to Advanced Marathoning. I'm also planning to continue with my weekly Sanford POWER sessions if they continue to offer them on a night or early morning that works with my schedule! Fingers crossed. 2017 might be a speedy year! Wait and see.

(yes I 100% asked for this new book for Christmas from my MIL. Danielle sent me the marathon one years ago on our mutual request to be speedy... spoiler, I never did, she REALLY did!)

MARATHON Training: Take 2!

Hello all.  I'm back from the depths of non-posting.  I spent a solid 45 minutes tonight typing out my race report to have it eaten by my computer--hell's bells, I tell ya.  I didn't want to throw another one together all half-assedsy so I shall try again tomorrow.  I may have had a level 9 tantrum when the report went -poof- so be happy I was talked off the ledge.

Tomorrow marks Day 1 of running for my MARATHON training program.  This is assuming my IT bands are happy campers by then.  As I've mentioned a few times before, one of my favorite things in the world to do is create my training programs.  They are a work in progress for a full month before I give them the final okay.  Here is the thing of beauty that I came up with.

After tallying up my mileage on the training program to give myself a mileage goal for the year, I noticed that my mileage for marathon training was 262 miles.  How eerie is that?  Must mean it's perfect-o, right? :)

So I'm signed up for #2.  Sub 4 here I come!


Check out some sweet giveaways (while I painstakingly rewrite my race report....UGH!)
Run to the Finish
Racing with Babes
and another! Racing with Babes

Funk Fixed!

I have a confession to make.  I've been in a bit of a funk.  Post half-marathon I had run 3 miles in 9 days.  I know I ran hard in the race, and my body deserved some recovery time, but it had gotten to the point where I was just being LAZY!  I am committed to running the Cellcomm Green Bay Marathon in May (and will be officially on Saturday, my golden birthday, when I'm signing up as my gift to ME!) and am doing a 14 week training program, but that doesn't start until February 7th.  What the heck do I do until then!?!?!?  Eat ice cream.  Wait.  That's what I've been doing.  Somehow I don't think that's the best plan for getting me across the finish line after 26.2.

I had used runnersworld.com to come up with a maintenance program for the next 7 weeks to bridge me until marathon training starts, but even that couldn't get me motivated.  Then I had a realization.  Duh!  I didn't want to do a 16 week marathon training program because that seemed soooo darn looooong.  Yet, esentially I would be doing a 21 week program with the maintenance program prior to the marathon training.  Um....heck no!  When I got to thinking further, I realized that I had been utilizing runners world training programs since mid-January.  Meaning, I've been following the exact same style of training for almost a full year, with only the goal pace times for some tempo runs and speed workouts changed up by a few seconds.  NO WONDER I'M BORED!

I'm definitely not knocking the runners world training programs, because they have proven to be very effective for me, but a year long is enough to make anyone go crazy.  I decided that I'm going to have fun for the next 7 weeks.  I've been saying that I would really like to work on speed work for a while and do a full out mile to see how fast I could do it in.  Well Jeri, no time like the present!  I plan to keep my long runs in the 9-13 range, but have fun with speedwork.  After all it is my one true love.  Plus since it looks like I'll be a slave to the treadmill for quite a few runs this winter, it makes sense to fully embrace some hardcore speed work.

With that being said, I think I'm going to create my own maintenance training program/7 weeks of speed program.  Usually I let runners world come up with something and tweak it as I see fit, but I think I'll really have some fun with this.  I think I'll really enjoy the flexibility, and that by the end of it, I'll really crave the original structure of the runners world training program.  I plan on doing 4-5 days of running, which is what I'm currently doing.  1 day of long runs, 1 day tempo, 1 day speed work (repeats/intervals), and 1-2 easy days.  I'm SO EXCITED.  Funk fixed.  Take that funk.

To start off my newly refound mojo, I borrowed a treadmill workout from a fellow midwesterner Iowa Girl Eats.  I tweaked it a bit to make it fit to my liking.  I started off with a mile warm up at 6.2 mph.  Followed by 1 minute sprints then 1 minute jogs.  The first 3 were at 8 mph, with a 6 mph jog, then 3 at 9 mph and finally 3 at 10 mph.  I finished the remaining .8 miles with a cool down jog at 6.2-6-4 mph.

HOLY SANTA CLAUS $H!T!  (bonus super sweet points if you can name that quote!)  It kicked my booty.  The first sprint felt soooo easy, that I was concerned I wasn't challenging myself enough. HA!  Shortly after I started the set at 9 mph I was getting tired!  I lasted the first minute at 10 mph, but for the last 2 I shortened it to :45 seconds, with 1:15 jog after.  People were looking at me like I was crazy, and the treadmill was a-rocking.  You know it's a good workout when the treadmill is littered with little droplets of sweat that have flung off your speedy body.  Sexy.

I did 4 miles in 35:08 for a pace of 8:47.
1. 9:42 2. 8:17 3. 7:59 4. 9:08


I really enjoyed this type of speed work, and will definitely be looking for similar workouts for my speedwork session of each week.

Also my apologies for the lack of photos in this post.  I went to a fancy Christmas dinner this weekend, and was even wearing a skirt (whoa!) and had my camera out and on the table the whole night, and didn't snap a picture.  Total failure.  Plus I wanted to let you see how cute my date was.  ;)  Shucks.

6 miles out of a movie + Coach + The Sickness

Monday I had 6 easy miles on the schedule.  The weather was gorg, and I had my iPod loaded up with some slow tunes to help with the slow pace.  I uploaded Regina Spektor's new CD Far, and also Ingrid Michaelson's newest Everybody.  It was literally the most beautiful run I can remember.  There's something about listening to slow, meaningful music which provides the perfect soundtrack to the fall colored leaves that randomly fall off the trees while you're running down the trail.  I literally think I smiled the entire 6 mile run.

Highlights of the run:

• I saw a dude with rollerblades and those big stick things to make it look like he was XC skiing on the trail.  I saw him twice.  His sticks were so long (twss) that he almost pushed me off the trail.  Jeepers.
• I also saw a dude in full on bright orange gear.  We're talking head to toe overalls/coveralls depending on where you're from.  I mean, I know we're in pheasant hunting season and all, but I'm not super concerned about being shot WHILE IN TOWN.  Perhaps I should be?  I dunno.

I did 6 miles in 57:09 for a pace of 9:32.

1. 9:26 
2. 9:25 
3. 9:29 
4. 9:39 
5. 9:40 
6. 9:27 

It's actually pretty humorous, because I was running INTO the wind for the first 3 miles, and WITH it for the last 3.  You'd think it'd be the other way around.  I realized that it's hard for me to run easy/relaxed into the wind because of my training as a sprinter.  We were taught how to work against the wind, and apparently I do that without thinking, even when running 6 miles instead of a 100 m. dash.  :p

I got a super exciting email from one of my BFFFs over the weekend.  This is the chica that got me on to running.  She decided she wanted to challenge herself to try a half marathon, and saw me running all the time and thought I should do it too.  I found some training programs, and totally thought they were doable, and our friendship was formed.  :)

[Dang totally thought I had a pic of us post-race to include in this post...turns out I can't find it.  Le sigh.  This one was pre-going out to Holocene in Portland when I went to visit her summer 08.]

Email

Subject:  Why not?

Because I know you love this kind of thing... I need you to make me a half marathon race schedule. Ridiculously short amount of time. The Angkor Wat Half Marathon Run is December 6th.   :D

m

Um ya, did I mention she's in Cambodia right now!??!  So of course I got super excited and came up with a training program for her.  Plus now we're training for HMs that are a week apart.  WHOO!!  I told her she has to refer to me as Coach from now on, but other than that, a training program was created.  :)

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I probably should've known based on all the snot rockets blown/loogies coughed up in recent runs, that I have "the sickness."  I went home from work Tuesday at about 10am and today, Thursday is day 3 of being home.  Not only does it suck to be sick, but I had planned on doing a 5k on Saturday.  I had a great impromptu training schedule created for this week, and no where in there does it say, "Eat a ridiculous amount of food (ya, apparently my appetite is out of control.  I still blame this weekend's starve-fest.), drink a gallon of OJ, sit on the couch, watch all the runners run by your place."

I do feel a LOT better today but just staying home so I can hack up the last of the phlegm in the privacy of my own home, instead of in front of clients, or on the phone with clients.  I'm classy like that.  I do still plan on running the 5k on Saturday :s unless my sickness takes a few steps backwards.  Fingers crossed that they don't, please?

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Being home has its perks.  I got to watch Away We Go, which has Jim Halpert from The Office in it, and Maya Rudolph from SNL.  It was sooooo good.  I will probably have to buy it actually (I rarely buy movies).  I also watched Monsters vs. Aliens which was also really really good.  :)  I've been on a music searching spree also.  I may have a new music post in the works for the near future.  :)

Good luck to ChasRunner who's going to kick butt in her marathon this weekend.  Kill it Girl!

P.S.  Thanks for all your super sweet comments on the wedding pics.  Apparently the crazy red wasn't quite so bad.  I still think it'll be the first and last time my lips see it.  :)