Training plans

Here is the schedule I have been looking at and I am now in need to really begin working to catch up to it for Chippewa:

Week Of	Week	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun	Miles
02/20/12	10	0	2	4	6	0	14	8	34
02/27/12	9	0	4	4	6	0	16	10	40
03/05/12	8	0	4	6	6	0	18	10	44
03/12/12	7	0	4	6	8	0	20	10	48
03/19/12	6	0	4	8	6	0	10	8	36
03/26/12	5	0	4	8	8	0	22	10	52
04/02/12	4	0	4	10	8	0	22	10	54
04/09/12	3	0	4	10	8	0	24	10	56
04/16/12	2	0	4	10	6	0	10	8	38
04/23/12	1	4	3	2	0	0	50K ultra	0	40

If I was on track, I need to run 14 miles for my long run and I would have run 12 miles during the work week and 8 miles on the other weekend day. My reality is 4 miles during the week, 3 miles yesterday and I do plan to go for 14 today,  so not completely off track nor am I where I should be.

On yesterday's run I was thinking about my other races for the year and how I am planning on Afton and Superior. How I want to finish it Superior and the work I need to accomplish between now and then to be able to do so. I thought about the training I would be doing so Afton popped in my head and it dawned on me that I volunteered last year and dropped out the previous 2 years, all because of injuries and when I entered Superior 2 years ago, I was also a little bit injured and proceeded to add to my injuries. So for this year my goal is to get to the starting line of all of my races healthy and trained.

So it begins today by getting in a long run of ~14 miles without doing any harm. Then next week I work to get back on plan and stay there all the way Chippewa.

Week in review

A couple weeks back I said I would shoot for 4 days of running and get in a long run of 3 hours. Well that didn't exactly happen, I ran 3 days and got in 2 hours and this past week I have yet to run. I have continued to work on my core, strength and flexibility and I do plan on running yet today.

Back to that last longish run, I decided after an hour of running that I wasn't going to do Zumbro. My goal for the year is finishing what I started 2 years ago at Superior and I need to stay healthy and ramping up my mileage for Zumbro just wouldn't be smart. Have I ruled it out completely, of course not, my common sense says no, my heart still says do it. Oh the internal struggles of an under training running.

And this week I allowed myself to step back yet again, why another step  back week. Well, I volunteered two evenings and then yesterday spent the afternoon helping out with the robot. On Saturday, I also made a priority of going to bible study and looking at a couple of townhouses with my wife and daughter (she is looking to buy her first house :-), could I have gotten a run in, yes in the evening I could have but I did not. I will admit if it had been 50+ degrees and the trails were clear I would have made it out the door.

The good news for my running is that this is the last intense week for me helping out the robotics team and because of work I will only be able to assist next weekend and they might be done by then. This past week was also my first one with the new job (same company) and I really enjoyed getting into the new routine, it just turned out that a few of the days were a little longer. I do think as I work into a new job routine I will get in my runs just not sure which days or when. For this week though, I just didn't make it happen. From my view, stepping back when overloaded with things is simply a part of keeping priorities in balance and thus far for this year my running has not been able to be a high priority.

For this upcoming week I expect that things will work out better and that within a few weeks I will find a new routine for running with Chippewa being the short term goal.

Working my way back

Since my last post I took 10 days off with no running and then this past week resumed my running. I got in 3 runs over the last 6 days, so I am on my way back.

I did accomplish partly what I wanted to do with the time off, I worked on core and stretching. I also was able to focus my energy on my transition at work and on supporting the robotics mentoring. So my overload is feeling a little lighter and my body is feeling better. I finish up the job transition this week and it will be nice to be able to work only one job soon. The mentoring will continue for the next 3 weeks but I think we can get the work done just meeting 3 days a week. Meanwhile I will continue with the stretching and core work and mapping out my training with an eye towards Chippewa, Afton and then Superior.

I had hoped during my 10 days off to figure out ways to cross train beyond just core, strength and stretching and I have come up with a few ideas that hopefully I will execute on this week. One idea is to power walk on a treadmill at say 6 to 10% incline. I mentally can't run on one so maybe I can walk. I also can ride the exercise bike or XC ski machine or simply get in a few power walks outside (it's probably my ego that prevents this more than anything else that and I love to run). My wife is also working to convince me go to her body sculpting session at Jazzercise. Not quite there yet (yes, it might be the ego again)

My runs this week were my normal easing back into running. On Wednesday, I ran 3 miles, Saturday 6 and today 9. I was a little sore after Saturdays run but it was a good kind of sore. No calf or back pain on any of the runs so the core stuff and stretching must be helping.

For this week, I will try to get in 4 days of running with a longer run of say 3 hours on the weekend. I haven't completely ruled out Zumbro but I am not sure I can get into shape for an easy (meaning slow) 50 mile event as its now just 11 weeks away.

I plan to take it one week at a time and see how things go as my goal for this year is to return to Superior in shape and healthy and to finish out the 50 miler.

Facing Reality

What is my reality, it's the realization that I was heading down the path that some say might indicate that I am suffering from training insanity. Why training insanity, well based on this definition: "Insanity is repeating the same mistakes and expecting different results" that is indeed my current training path. What's going on that causes me to say this, well.

I want to have a healthy successful running year in 2012 and finish 2 or 3 50 mile events, a couple of 50ks and maybe a marathon or two. What I have done to ensure success? I went out for a few runs, did no cross training, core (stability) or flexibility. So what's going on? I am extremely tight and have struggled on my last 2 attempts for longer runs. I went into them feeling a bit beat up, my calf was tight which took miles to loosen up which led to my lower back tightening up. Which led me to say, what the @#X@ is going on and what am I doing?

So since I believe in the saying, "a goal without a plan and action is nothing but a daydream". I obviously need a new plan that I take action off of.

I should mention a few other reality issues. I am switching jobs, same company just a new role with a new boss, so I am winding down my old job and getting started with my new one during January. Plus I am volunteering at AVHS for their robotics program, it's just an extra few (think up to 8 hours) out of my week. I have also noticed that when I do have a run that feels good, it seems to leave me drained on my next run with tired legs and low energy so either it's age catching up with poor training or something else going on.

My current thinking is that Zumbro will be out and so will Chippewa if I can't get into a balanced training program that includes core, flexibility and runs that serve a purpose. If I proceed without making changes and insist on beating myself up, I will end up injured, hobbled or will burn out.

So what's all of this mean, well here is the new basic plan

• Monday - Core & stretching
• Tuesday - Run - 3 to 5 miles
• Wednesday - Core plus stretching if recovered then maybe Run - 3 to 5 miles
• Thursday - Run 4 to 7 miles
• Friday - Core & Stretching
• Saturday - Run - 5 to 10 miles
• Sunday - Run 10 to 20 miles 

I know for some you might think I should be more specific but if I simply get started on core and flexibility and make it my routine, that would be huge for me and might be just enough to help me turn the corner on what is holding me back.

So I will work on stretching and core starting tomorrow and then see if I can follow this schedule for two weeks. If I need to adjust the time of day when I run or stretch or work on core, then I will need to do that. If I am successful (schedule adherence with decent results), then I will talk about my other goals for the year and who knows maybe Zumbro and/or Chippewa will still happen, if not, then I need to say no to my daydream and  focus on something else for this year.