Getting back into training mode

February 22, 2012 6 Comments

February is almost over, thankfully. It’s lived up to its reputation as my least favorite month of the whole year and I’ve basically taken the entire month off from running/hardcore training/actually trying.

My knee isn’t 100 percent back to normal, but I think I finally have the right brace and I’m working hard on changing a few things around to help it get stronger and healthier.

Now, I’m staring at an excel spreadsheet of a training plan and I’m ready to get started:

I even added a race next Sunday, March 4 that kind of fits nicely into the first full week of real training: the Mill Creek Distance Classic Half in Youngstown. It’s hilly and tough and we’ll see how it goes.

Anyway, I’m excited to be able to get back into feeling like I’m training for something and I’m actually getting ready for my next two marathons and my first 50 miler. I hate to admit, but I’ve felt extremely behind pretty much everyone I know who is training for Cleveland or other spring marathons and have been training for weeks. I even know a few people who have been training for the half for a few weeks and here I am, not doing much of anything.

But I’m trying to appreciate my body for what I can do each day, but I’m looking forward to getting back to where I was and building up to my full potential.

It’s all about the bigger goal now. I’m ready to start doing the work.

Full disclosure: The wonderful people at the Cleveland Marathon gave me a race entry and I agreed to blog about my training and race day experiences. And you should know by now that I’m too snarky and opinionated and everything I post on here are my own thoughts and experiences. 

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three things thursday: I’m a CLE Marathon blogger

January 26, 2012 3 Comments

I feel bad, I haven’t talked about it too much, other than in passing, but I’m a Cleveland Marathon blogger again this year. I know I’ve mentioned I’m running the race before as part of my Mohican 50 mile training. But I’m sure there are some new readers out there, so instead of making you dig, I figured I’d dedicate a three things Thursday to my hometown marathon.

1. I ran the half the past two years and CLE was my very first half marathon in 2010. I started running a year before it and I remember sitting in my room at my old apartment in 2009 reading blogs and news stories about the race and thinking, “I’m going to run that someday.” And a year later, I started this blog with about a month left of training and finishing the race was one of my proudest moments and really helped me realize that I can do whatever I set my mind to.

(talk about clueless when it comes to dressing for the weather... ha!)

2. As I mentioned above, the race is part of my 50 mile Mohican Trail Run training. For me, it’ll be just another day on my feet… with a medal at the end. For the essence of time, money and my overall sanity, I’m mixing long runs on roads and trails (I will be running two long days every weekend) until after CLE and then spend the rest of my training on all of the wonderful trails NEO has to offer. But I can’t deny my love of road races: the crowd support, the bands, the signs, the people from all different backgrounds. I’m excited to run the full CLE this year and finally experience everything the race has to offer, not just half of it :P

3. A while back, some of my twitter friends from other parts of Ohio (like Dave mostly), came up with the idea of the Ohio Triple Crown: Capital City Half Marathon, Flying Pig Marathon and the Cleveland Marathon. Before I was contacted about being a CLE Marathon blogger again, I had decided I was for sure doing Cap City and the Flying Pig as my own personal (and much less expensive and less stressful) Goofy challenge. And then I got a great email about running CLE as well. I still hadn’t chosen Mohican as a 50 miler (I was leaning toward one in August I may still do), so I figured, why not go for the triple crown? I don’t know if anyone who else who was included in the tweets is doing it for sure or not, but it’ll be pretty awesome.

 

Full disclosure: The wonderful people at the Cleveland Marathon gave me a race entry and I agreed to blog about my training and race day experiences. And you should know by now that I’m too snarky and opinionated and everything I post on here are my own thoughts and experiences. 

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You mean I need a training plan?

January 10, 2012 8 Comments

Ugh. I often jokingly say things, like, “marathons? people train for those?” or “OMG you’re really tapering! Lame!”

It’s the trail runner in me.

Anyway, I met my friend Julie for coffee the other day and we talked about training plans and running and life and boys and everything women talk about in the comfy chairs at Starbucks. On the subject of race training, she said, “you’re type A, aren’t you?”

I really hate describing myself that way. I’m aggressive, competitive, thrive on a plan and need organization. But since I “trained” for Chicago, started running with a group and started getting away from road running, I’ve found that I’m a lot happier not being on a training plan. Don’t get me wrong, I still have goals, but not having that “OMG I’M GOING TO DIE IF I DON’T DO 6 MILES OF SPEEDWORK TODAY” feeling ever is pretty awesome.

That and I get extremely annoyed when I meet someone and they’re like, “yeah. I’m training for a marathon.” *then brushes dirt off shoulder* Wow. Good for you. So am I and everyone else. (I should note that I’m very happy people are getting out there and getting active, losing weight and achieving their fitness goals. But at the same time, one of the greatest running lessons I ever learned was to be humble. Running a 5K, half, full, ultra, whatever, doesn’t make you God, so don’t act that way. And those times I’m an arrogant asshole about ultras, I’m joking.)

Running is just a part of what I do. I pay to do it, so I figure there’s no need to ever feel like I’m really training.

But then I put my schedule together. When it was just a 50K, a half and two full marathons, I thought, “OK. Easy. Just keep doing what you’re doing.”

But then I registered for the Mohican 50. And since I don’t know what I’m doing past the 31 mile mark, I figured I’d take my own advice and invest in some help:

(saw this pic on Skinny Runner‘s blog the other day. Perfect timing.)

I scoured the internet for a high-mileage 50 mile training plan that would work with my race schedule and get me across the finish line. Though I’m sure I could have kept going on the run long Saturday, run not as long, but still pretty long Sunday plan, I had to admit I really have no idea what I’m doing. So after looking at a bunch of plans, OK, there’s not a ton out there, I figured Hal Higdon’s Comrades training plan would be perfect. For starters, Comrades is the same week as Mohican. It’s a few miles longer, but that’ll just mean I’m extra prepared, right?

The plan is 24 weeks and begins right after I’m done with Regis. Luckily, the first few weeks are low in mileage and will give me that time to recover a bit before I’m running 24+ mile long runs again. For the first half, I’ll be worrying about long run mileage and then switching to the “hours on your feet” way of training. As for right now, I’ll be running Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and long on Saturday and Sunday. I still only have just the long runs planned out. So we’ll see how it all goes in June.

I’m not sure how I’ll incorporate road running yet and getting longer runs in there too. I’m big on the “practice where you play” thing, so I’m thinking maybe one weekend day will be roads and one will be trails. We’ll see.

What are your training plans like? Do you plan everything out or do you take it one week at a time?

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