I think I’m going to set it as a goal for the year. Again, why not? It’s only an average of 20 miles/week, which becomes easy once I get back on the bike. I’m only about 12 miles short for the year, which is less than an hour of road biking.
This isn’t a serious goal like Mystic Places or Hartford, but it’s an interesting premise the more I think about it.
Sunday was the first cold, cold, cold day I’ve run outside. I’d say it was a mistake, ‘cept it was a run, I didn’t get injured, so how could it be bad?
Ran from the house in the afternoon in a vain hope that I’d catch warmer weather. Wrong-o. I was layered well on my torso, arms, and legs, and had good gloves. But I wasn’t prepared for how cold the wind on my face was. Next time, I’ll bring my fleece muffler.
Other than the chill, Sunday’s run was good. I hit the monster steep hill about a mile from my house, and had my first “gut check” in a while. Every fiber in my abs was screaming “Just walk it” for a bit, but I grunted and banged up it, then went slow till I caught my breath. Not so bad. Mile 1 – 9:10. Miles 2 and 3 were better. I turned to run with the wind, got back some feeling in my cheeks, and did both of them in about 8:30. Got to love the negative split, especially when it’s set up by running the first half uphill!
Hit the Y this morning to swim. Don’t know if I was still winded or what, but the swim did not feel right at all. Whatever rhythm I may have found last time left, and I was feeling rough. Ah, well. 30 laps, .75 miles.
For the year, I completed week 2 of the training program with no hiccups. One more week and it’s a habit!
Stats:
Mileage last week: 13.4 running, 1 swimming.
YTD totals: 25.7 running, 2.5 swimming (including today), 28.3 total, 971.7 to go
My current running goal is to go from a 10 mile base to a 20 mile base. After that, it’s a multi-sport focus until about July, when I start preparing for the Mystic Places Marathon
I continued training until about mid-October and the 15-16 mile point, at which point I let weather get the best of me, and committed to having a sympathy pregnancy (gaining weight, being moody, etc).
This time – Well, this time I do it. We’re 2 kids to the good, and I’m 20 or so pounds to the heavy. Plus, my little bro has run two in the interm. So I’m set for the Mystic Places Marathon in October.
April-Anne asks “Why did you start running?”
My folks ran when I was a kid, and would drag my brother and I along (often quite literally kicking and screaming). But that doesn’t quite count as when I started running.
I ran a lot in OCS, but at first that was mainly due to the Marines chasing me. But somewhere along the route, something snapped. It was probably when I could actually keep up and shout at the same time without gasping for breath.
I would run occasionally during my time in the nuke power pipeline and while assigned to a submarine, but that was more giving into the “flight” part of the “fight or flight” response hardwired into us.
I started running while my lovely wife and I were training for the 2000 Disney marathon. I hit a point where I could do 5 miles without blinking, and I was hooked. We didn’t make it to the marathon – we decided to stop trying not to have kids, and almost immediately we were expecting, so I slacked off training in late October when the weather got nasty.
I’ve had a couple more stops/starts since then, but overall I’ve kept up with it, or at least with an intense desire to be out there.