My Run Journal – February 2012

“Anyone can give up. It’s the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everyone else would understand if you fell apart, that’s true strength.”
Anonymous

If you’ve found this post and want to go back to the beginning of my running journey,
start here.

Click here to see my January 2012 Run Journal

Here it is, the 26th day of the month, only 10 weeks until the next half marathon…it ain’t looking so good yet. I chose the quote above for a reason. I’m on the verge of giving up. To start with, I haven’t been running on schedule like I should be. My training has fallen by the wayside as I struggle to keep up with life and all that keeps me busy during the Upward season. What little running I have been doing I’ve not been tracking. I can say with accuracy that I’ve only run 2-3 times per week, max. At most, each of those runs has only been 2 miles. I’m at a wall here, and I haven’t been able to dig down deep enough yet to find the drive to get over the wall. I’m going to have to do some serious soul searching to find something within to keep me moving on this journey. The strength and power to keep pushing and training is going to have to come from above, because I’m not seeing it within myself. And I’m going to have to find it pretty quick, or I won’t be ready.

2/27
Week 3 Day 1
With only 10 weeks before the half marathon, I’m way behind my intended training schedule. I usually follow a 12-week plan and add extra weeks in, so if I follow the 12-week plan to the letter, I should be pretty good to go by race day. I found a revised novice training plan from the Hal Higdon site that seems a little closer to what I’m already doing, so I’m switching to that one. My plan is to run per the training schedule, and any time I have left after the run to fill up a full hour, I’ll walk. Then I’m going to throw in some two-a-days here and there with cross-training and strength training to help speed things up…not over pushing it during the second workout, but something extra to keep moving forward. Today’s workout on the treadmill:

mile – speed
.25 – 6.0
1.25 – 5.0
.05 – 3.2
.20 – 5.0
.05 – 3.2
.25 – 5.0
.05 – 3.2
.15 – 6.0
.05 – 3.2
.20 – 5.0
.05 – 3.2
.25 – 5.0

This 3 miles took 38:23, and I finished the full hour with a nice walk. Hard run, because I didn’t stretch beforehand. I know better than that.

I’m in a “two-a-day” kind of mood this week, so all week I’m going to try to get two workouts in every day. The second workout will not be over-taxing, but will be a cross-training opportunity to build my strength, improve my cardio ability and burn calories. This afternoon, I went back to the gym for 20 minutes of swimming, followed by a 15 minute “cool down” in the hot tub. The 20 minutes in the pool kicked my tail, and now as I write this, only 4 hours afterward, my arms and abs are already hurting. Feeling pretty good about it, though.

Love,

Dad