That's been my mantra since the Joyful Running workshop. I've been able to keep my focus much better when I think short term - a week at a time. My goals and training plans were starting to overwhelm me until I put them into this perspective. Now, I can more easily adjust because I only think a week at a time, I don't think about how missing a run might impact my race 10 weeks from now. It sounds simple but it really wasn't. Anyway...
This week, I missed my Tuesday run because it was so freaking windy out. I just did not want to be out in the wind, or the smoke from the fire in Golden. I'd already taken my Monday rest day but then ended up with two rest days in a row. On Monday, I did my core workout so that was good. Instead of freaking out about two non-running days, I just adjusted. I ran Wednesday and Thursday. Both were pretty good runs too. Thursday I ran at a place I'd never been before and was pretty fast (10:08 mile pace). I was really happy with that. I was also happy to find that my hips and feet didn't feel too sore doing the whole 3.7 miles on the bike path. I hadn't done that kind of run in a long time.
I'd been running on trails or mixed trails for about a week and a half and I think my hips were able to get stronger or heal or whatever they needed. Or maybe it was just stopping boot camp. Anyway, I feel very good today.
I'm not sure what I'll do tomorrow. I'll do something, either a bike ride with the hubby (we keep talking about that but haven't done it yet), or an easy run on the treadmill or at the park. We'll see what the weather holds and how I feel. Sunday is the Boulder Spring 10K. I'm feeling good but a little intimidated but the elite crowd that will be there. I hope there are some fun runners out there too. I picked up my race packet today on the way home from Estes.
This afternoon I drove up to Estes Park to pick up the jacket and glove I'd left behind after the workshop. I also drove much of the route for the half marathon. It's not nearly as intimidating as it sounds on the web site. Not that I think it'll be easy, but I feel much better about my training plan and my ability to be successful now that I've seen it.
I focused on being properly fueled all day today so that my body will be ready for Sunday. This will be the longest run of my training so far. I wish I'd prepared more for this specific race but I'm happy with where I am in my overall training. No worries. It's all good.
Finish strong!
Friday, March 25, 2011
Monday, March 21, 2011
Weekly Plan (March 21)
Last week's plan looked like this:
Monday - rest/15 minute core exercises
Tuesday - easy run at work
Wednesday - arms/boot camp
Thursday - trail run
Friday - rest/15 core exercises
Saturday - walk or bike to Starbucks with the hubby
Sunday - long run
And that's more or less what I did. The changes were, Friday I did a night run instead of rest and core exercises, Saturday I rested. The rest of the schedule was on track and got done. Finished the week with a total of about 14 miles. :-)
My plan for this week:
Monday - rest/15 minute core exercises
Tuesday - easy 4 mile run at work
Wednesday - arms/boot camp
Thursday - easy 4 mile run at work
Friday - rest/15 core exercises
Saturday - walk or bike to Starbucks with the hubby
Sunday - Boulder Spring 10K
So far, I've not done anything today (Monday) but maybe I can still push on and get 15 minutes of core done while I wait for my sheets to dry. Just get it done, right? Get it done!
Thursday I also have evening plans for a couple of workshops in Boulder. The first is at Fleet Feet and is about running form. That's when I'll also pick up my race packet for the 10K. After that is a workshop at the Boulder REI on running faster and injury free. I'm looking forward to both!
Monday - rest/15 minute core exercises
Tuesday - easy run at work
Wednesday - arms/boot camp
Thursday - trail run
Friday - rest/15 core exercises
Saturday - walk or bike to Starbucks with the hubby
Sunday - long run
And that's more or less what I did. The changes were, Friday I did a night run instead of rest and core exercises, Saturday I rested. The rest of the schedule was on track and got done. Finished the week with a total of about 14 miles. :-)
My plan for this week:
Monday - rest/15 minute core exercises
Tuesday - easy 4 mile run at work
Wednesday - arms/boot camp
Thursday - easy 4 mile run at work
Friday - rest/15 core exercises
Saturday - walk or bike to Starbucks with the hubby
Sunday - Boulder Spring 10K
So far, I've not done anything today (Monday) but maybe I can still push on and get 15 minutes of core done while I wait for my sheets to dry. Just get it done, right? Get it done!
Thursday I also have evening plans for a couple of workshops in Boulder. The first is at Fleet Feet and is about running form. That's when I'll also pick up my race packet for the 10K. After that is a workshop at the Boulder REI on running faster and injury free. I'm looking forward to both!
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Weekly Plan
Here is my weekly plan...
Monday - rest/15 minute core exercises
Tuesday - easy run at work
Wednesday - arms/boot camp
Thursday - trail run
Friday - rest/15 core exercises
Saturday - walk or bike to Starbucks with the hubby
Sunday - long run
Plan weekly and adjust daily.
I think the biggest part of this plan is that I've scheduled rest days. Boot camp won't start up again until April 5th. That's when I'll do my 5 make up days from this current session. One day a week should keep me on track to maintain my overall fitness. Also, adding a day on the bicycle and a trail day might help my hips to recover as well.
This week I'm giving this plan a test. Yesterday I did the "Fast Abs" workout sort of half-assed. But, now that I think I know how to work my new interval timer app, and I know what the exercises are, I'll be ready to get it done right the next time. Maybe I'll do 15 minute abs and 15 minute arms on Wednesday since that won't be a boot camp day. I could do the pushups/dips ladder workout. That is killer!
Yay! Feels good to have a plan. :-)
Monday - rest/15 minute core exercises
Tuesday - easy run at work
Wednesday - arms/boot camp
Thursday - trail run
Friday - rest/15 core exercises
Saturday - walk or bike to Starbucks with the hubby
Sunday - long run
Plan weekly and adjust daily.
I think the biggest part of this plan is that I've scheduled rest days. Boot camp won't start up again until April 5th. That's when I'll do my 5 make up days from this current session. One day a week should keep me on track to maintain my overall fitness. Also, adding a day on the bicycle and a trail day might help my hips to recover as well.
This week I'm giving this plan a test. Yesterday I did the "Fast Abs" workout sort of half-assed. But, now that I think I know how to work my new interval timer app, and I know what the exercises are, I'll be ready to get it done right the next time. Maybe I'll do 15 minute abs and 15 minute arms on Wednesday since that won't be a boot camp day. I could do the pushups/dips ladder workout. That is killer!
Yay! Feels good to have a plan. :-)
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Had a good week now that I think about it...
So, I'd been struggling with my workout commitments and over committed schedule. After the workshop last Sunday, I finally admitted to myself that I needed to cut back on or give up boot camp if I wanted to focus on my running. Admitting it and putting those thoughts into action were very difficult for me. I am a creature of habit and routine. Boot camp fit comfortably into my work schedule and I'd become accustomed to attending on Monday, Wednesday and Friday every week. But, my body was beginning to rebel and struggle with the workouts. Not good. And, in addition to making me physically feel bad, it also made me quite sad.
So, I've officially called off the rest of boot camp. There is one week left including a test day. Not including the test day, I'll have 5 make up days. The next session begins in three weeks and goes outside. So, I now have three weeks off with no boot camp instead of two. My body can rest a little and I can focus on my running.
Earlier today, I updated my running calendar and my daily mile account. I have an old fashioned weekly planner for my running. I like writing in it. It makes me feel like I've accomplished something important. I also use it to later update my digital trackers. After I made my updates, my mileage for this week totaled over 12 miles. I had no idea I'd managed that many this week! Not all of them were running, maybe about half. But, still, that's quite an accomplishment for me right now. That gives me a good feeling that I can make this transition to running full time.
And, it's just in time too. I have a 10K in two weeks.
Some stats from the week... I ran on Friday with a friend of mine to show her the 3 mile loop on the Boulder bike path. We ran/walked it in about 49 minutes. It was a nice casual comfortable pace. On Saturday, I participated in the Water Buffalo Stampede with my sister and her fiance. My sister and I walked the 5K together in 45:11. I was very happy with that too. She's a very fast walker! Today, I did about 3 miles at Crown Hill Park with my book club Colfax marathon relay team. Also a nice easy comfortable pace. Finished that in about 40 minutes.
I think I'll take tomorrow off. Sunday's are going to be my long runs so I think taking Friday and Monday off will work well for my schedule.
I have less than 13 weeks until Estes. :-)
So, I've officially called off the rest of boot camp. There is one week left including a test day. Not including the test day, I'll have 5 make up days. The next session begins in three weeks and goes outside. So, I now have three weeks off with no boot camp instead of two. My body can rest a little and I can focus on my running.
Earlier today, I updated my running calendar and my daily mile account. I have an old fashioned weekly planner for my running. I like writing in it. It makes me feel like I've accomplished something important. I also use it to later update my digital trackers. After I made my updates, my mileage for this week totaled over 12 miles. I had no idea I'd managed that many this week! Not all of them were running, maybe about half. But, still, that's quite an accomplishment for me right now. That gives me a good feeling that I can make this transition to running full time.
And, it's just in time too. I have a 10K in two weeks.
Some stats from the week... I ran on Friday with a friend of mine to show her the 3 mile loop on the Boulder bike path. We ran/walked it in about 49 minutes. It was a nice casual comfortable pace. On Saturday, I participated in the Water Buffalo Stampede with my sister and her fiance. My sister and I walked the 5K together in 45:11. I was very happy with that too. She's a very fast walker! Today, I did about 3 miles at Crown Hill Park with my book club Colfax marathon relay team. Also a nice easy comfortable pace. Finished that in about 40 minutes.
I think I'll take tomorrow off. Sunday's are going to be my long runs so I think taking Friday and Monday off will work well for my schedule.
I have less than 13 weeks until Estes. :-)
Monday, March 7, 2011
Running Joyfully
Yesterday I attended the Joyful Running workshop in Estes Park. The workshop, which was offered by Active at Altitude, was described as:
"This one day workshop is for runners over 40 who would like to learn how to be able to sustain their active passions for the rest of their lives. Don McGrath, author of 50 athletes over 50, and Terry Chiplin, owner of Active at Altitude, team up to provide this fun-filled day, where participants learn how older athletes have been able to sustain their active passions by tapping into several joys. Participants then take these lessons and apply them to their own situations to enable them to sustain or unleash their running passion."
It was a small class of three attendees including myself and my friend. The small size made it a very intimate and focused event. We were able to have all of our own questions while also learning the strategies and tips presented by the presenters.
My goal was to learn how to balance my running and training with the rest of my life. I've been feeling a little overwhelmed with boot camp and work and then trying to fit running in there somewhere. I've been thinking I need to either eliminate boot camp or, at the very least, cut back to two days a week instead of three. My body is starting to feel over worked as well. I don't have enough recovery time to have enough energy and strength to even run when I need to. But, emotionally, I wasn't ready to give it up just yet. Boot camp is what brought my energy and strength back. It is what gave me the confidence to start running. It is what put me on the path to the half marathon and put me on the path to better health. So, I feel quite loyal to it. I suppose that's a good way to describe it. Additionally, I've been a little afraid to let it go because I am afraid of losing some of what I've gained. And it took me a long long time to build my strength and health to where it is now. And I don't know if I'd be able to do that all over again.
Well, that's been my biggest fear so far. But, after attending this workshop, I no longer have that big fear hanging over me. I know I can do it again if I wanted to. It's not hard. It's just about the commitment and I am very committed to staying active and healthy. What I am really afraid of is change. That's what I learned at the workshop. I am afraid of moving on from boot camp which is preventing me from jumping wholeheartedly into running. Whew! That was a big thing for me to realize and admit to myself.
I am not afraid of committing to running. I really want to devote myself to running. My goal was to make running a lifelong habit. I feel like I am on my way to that but that other things are in the way. At the workshop, we talked about creating a time budget to determine the how much the things we had to do cost us and how much time we'd have left over for the things we want to do. We also talked about other time management skills such as planning the week and adjusting by the day. Not a lot of things I hadn't heard before but I had not thought of them in the context of my running life.
I think the biggest thing I learned was that to continue my healthy and active life, I needed to think about it as a part of my life. I don't think I was thinking about it that way. It was just another thing I was trying to do rather than I thing I have incorporated into my life, just like work and everything else. So, I've been trying to schedule my running around my life rather than melding everything together.
Coincidentally, I just received the latest issue of Runner's World in the mail. Some of the cover stories include "How to Plan Your Weekly Workouts" and "Train Smarter & Race Stronger". How timely!
I took today the day off from boot camp. I was kicking myself for not taking a break on Friday so, even after the weekend break, I thought I should really step away for today to recharge. That leaves four days in this session plus the final test day. After that, there is a two week break before the classes start up outside again. During that break I plan to ramp up my running and also make a decision about stopping boot camp altogether or only going two days a week rather than three. I think the two weeks will be a good indicator about how much time I will really need for running.
I don't have a time goal for Estes but I want to finish happy and strong. To do that, I think I need to train in a more focused way than I did for the Vegas half. This is going to be very exciting! I'm really looking forward to the training and the run!
"This one day workshop is for runners over 40 who would like to learn how to be able to sustain their active passions for the rest of their lives. Don McGrath, author of 50 athletes over 50, and Terry Chiplin, owner of Active at Altitude, team up to provide this fun-filled day, where participants learn how older athletes have been able to sustain their active passions by tapping into several joys. Participants then take these lessons and apply them to their own situations to enable them to sustain or unleash their running passion."
It was a small class of three attendees including myself and my friend. The small size made it a very intimate and focused event. We were able to have all of our own questions while also learning the strategies and tips presented by the presenters.
My goal was to learn how to balance my running and training with the rest of my life. I've been feeling a little overwhelmed with boot camp and work and then trying to fit running in there somewhere. I've been thinking I need to either eliminate boot camp or, at the very least, cut back to two days a week instead of three. My body is starting to feel over worked as well. I don't have enough recovery time to have enough energy and strength to even run when I need to. But, emotionally, I wasn't ready to give it up just yet. Boot camp is what brought my energy and strength back. It is what gave me the confidence to start running. It is what put me on the path to the half marathon and put me on the path to better health. So, I feel quite loyal to it. I suppose that's a good way to describe it. Additionally, I've been a little afraid to let it go because I am afraid of losing some of what I've gained. And it took me a long long time to build my strength and health to where it is now. And I don't know if I'd be able to do that all over again.
Well, that's been my biggest fear so far. But, after attending this workshop, I no longer have that big fear hanging over me. I know I can do it again if I wanted to. It's not hard. It's just about the commitment and I am very committed to staying active and healthy. What I am really afraid of is change. That's what I learned at the workshop. I am afraid of moving on from boot camp which is preventing me from jumping wholeheartedly into running. Whew! That was a big thing for me to realize and admit to myself.
I am not afraid of committing to running. I really want to devote myself to running. My goal was to make running a lifelong habit. I feel like I am on my way to that but that other things are in the way. At the workshop, we talked about creating a time budget to determine the how much the things we had to do cost us and how much time we'd have left over for the things we want to do. We also talked about other time management skills such as planning the week and adjusting by the day. Not a lot of things I hadn't heard before but I had not thought of them in the context of my running life.
I think the biggest thing I learned was that to continue my healthy and active life, I needed to think about it as a part of my life. I don't think I was thinking about it that way. It was just another thing I was trying to do rather than I thing I have incorporated into my life, just like work and everything else. So, I've been trying to schedule my running around my life rather than melding everything together.
Coincidentally, I just received the latest issue of Runner's World in the mail. Some of the cover stories include "How to Plan Your Weekly Workouts" and "Train Smarter & Race Stronger". How timely!
I took today the day off from boot camp. I was kicking myself for not taking a break on Friday so, even after the weekend break, I thought I should really step away for today to recharge. That leaves four days in this session plus the final test day. After that, there is a two week break before the classes start up outside again. During that break I plan to ramp up my running and also make a decision about stopping boot camp altogether or only going two days a week rather than three. I think the two weeks will be a good indicator about how much time I will really need for running.
I don't have a time goal for Estes but I want to finish happy and strong. To do that, I think I need to train in a more focused way than I did for the Vegas half. This is going to be very exciting! I'm really looking forward to the training and the run!
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
The Lunch Run + Training Thoughts
I managed about 3.2 miles today over my lunch break. It was the first run of substance I've had since the Frozen Foot 5K. Ugh. But, I had a pretty good time - about 36 minutes - so I was happy with that. And I think running on the treadmill all this time (except for the 5K) had also taken it's toll. My legs felt very heavy. I walked quite a bit. I think the heaviness was also from the boot camp day of sprints on Monday. Ugh. If I can get another one in on Thursday I'll be happy. But, we'll see.
So, I've been thinking hard about my training for Estes. I really need to focus on actual training for this one. I have about 3 more weeks of boot camp and after that there is a two week break for spring break. After that, boot camp goes back outside to the park. There are about 14 weeks until the Estes Park half. I was planning to skip the 5 weeks of boot camp prior to the race. Which would mean only one outdoor session for me to participate in. My plan is to register for only two days a week instead of three. If I can taper boot camp, maybe I'll have more energy and time for my running. And skipping the session prior to the race, that's actually because I'll be out of town for three weeks during that time. So, with that time off from boot camp before the half, I can also focus more on my running.
I need to sit down with these thoughts and put them on my training calendar before I forget and over book myself again. That was hard work as I prepared for the Las Vegas half. This half in Estes will be much more challenging than the flat out and back in Vegas. But, I'm getting my game face on. I've even mapped out a good hill training run. A 5 mile loop with a mile and a half of uphill! Should be fun! Ha!
So, I've been thinking hard about my training for Estes. I really need to focus on actual training for this one. I have about 3 more weeks of boot camp and after that there is a two week break for spring break. After that, boot camp goes back outside to the park. There are about 14 weeks until the Estes Park half. I was planning to skip the 5 weeks of boot camp prior to the race. Which would mean only one outdoor session for me to participate in. My plan is to register for only two days a week instead of three. If I can taper boot camp, maybe I'll have more energy and time for my running. And skipping the session prior to the race, that's actually because I'll be out of town for three weeks during that time. So, with that time off from boot camp before the half, I can also focus more on my running.
I need to sit down with these thoughts and put them on my training calendar before I forget and over book myself again. That was hard work as I prepared for the Las Vegas half. This half in Estes will be much more challenging than the flat out and back in Vegas. But, I'm getting my game face on. I've even mapped out a good hill training run. A 5 mile loop with a mile and a half of uphill! Should be fun! Ha!
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