As I said yesterday, I've got a plan. A real one.
I sat down last night, tinkered with it some...and printed it today.
Not only did I get my training schedule roughed out....but I also put some race goals down as well.
I'm being ambitious.
Really, really ambitious.
* 5K social FUN run on Thanksgiving (St. Louis)
* Kansas Half Marathon (Lawrence, KS), April 17th
* Lincoln Half Marathon (Lincoln, NE), May 1st
* University of Okoboji Half Marathon (Okoboji, IA) - in the dead of July (17th).....say a prayer for me!!!
* Omaha Half Marathon (Omaha, NE), September 25th
* Des Moines 5K (Des Moines, IA), October 16th
* St. Louis Marathon (St. Louis, MO), October 23rd
(gulp)
I didn't forget to type "half" on that last one. I'm actually thinking about tackling a full in the fall.
(shudder)
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I laid in bed this morning and watched the time on my alarm clock slowly inch towards 4:45. It's silly how much more ready I was to run today than I have been the last couple of weeks. I knew that once I left the house, I needed to get a warm up in, run for about 25 minutes...and then tackle some hill repeats. (thanks to my handy dandy plan)
OK, OK...I won't say the "p" word any more. I'm even driving myself nuts!!!!!!
Where I run on a daily basis....there are no flats. It's all hills. I might get a block of two of flat....but it doesn't last long.....no matter which direction I go.
I've always been thankful for having those hills. I might cuss them out as I come up to them....but when I think about the good they are doing me, I can't complain.
Today, for the first time in my life, I did a little bit more of a structured hill workout.
Don't get me wrong, it was nothing fancy. I found a hill along my route, one on a very little traveled street that early in the am. I counted roughly 170 or so walking steps to get to a starting point near the bottom.
I ran up it....and walked back down.....three times.
That was that.
Next week, I'll be a little more aggressive....maybe increase my speed each time up. But today was my "I don't have a coach, I don't have a clue what I'm doing, I'm just going to do what I've read online and see how it goes" day.
4 comments:
I do not likeez zee heelz. I live in a hilly area too and I just wish sometimes I could run on a flat route for 5 miles. I think tomorrow I will drive somewhere for my planned 10K. Heelz, go to hellz. :)
@ Lori - (literally laughing out loud!!!)
I always drive to a trail that goes through town for my long runs. It's about as flat as I can find. :-)
#1 - I'm TOTALLY jealous of your race plan. I would love to do at least that much. But until the lottery fairy spirnkles her magic dust on me, I just to run for personal pleasure. :)
#2 - don't ever stop using the "p" word. The "p" work ROCKS ... unless you're referring to poop in which case it's kinda just gross. LOL
#3 - You're right, hills are awesome and benefit you so much. I don't love hills, but hills are usually the first thing to kill people in a race so I welcome them with open arms. Way to go on the hill repeats! I like to time them and see how close I can keep each repeat and maybe try to improve as I go on.
@ Heidi - The lottery fairy needs to visit my house as well....although, until I start playing the lottery, I'm thinking that won't happen. :-)
I did a boot camp, a couple of years ago....(right about the time my serious leg pains started)....anyway, we did allot of running (hence the shin splints)...and I LOVED the hills. I always passed everyone on them and looked forward to them. While I don't look forward to them now, I still hold on to my secret inner smile when they come up. :-)
Plan, plan, plan, plan.....there, I feel better! :-)
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