Plugging back in

December 27, 2011 by 11 Comments

I have been delightfully unplugged the last few days – removed from my laptop and only the occasional text on my phone. After kicking off the Christmas weekend with a frigid 7 mile run on Saturday, I have over-indulged in food, wine, family and laughter and I am good with all of it.

After a few lazy days, it’s time time to plug back in. With R’n’R DC about 12 weeks away, I’m back on a  formal training plan.  Recently, while tweeting with a few runners about training plans, Bart Yasso weighed in (one of the many reasons I love social media!) and suggested that based on my time goals and history, that I needed to increase my weekly mileage to closer to 35 miles, with at least one speed work per week. So I’ve decided to stick with the combination of Smart Coach and Hal Higdon’s Intermediate plan, similar to what I did for the Philly half, while upping my overall mileage  — through a combination of more double digit LSDs and an additional easy run day.

It may sound crazy, but I feel much more settled when I’ve got a plan in place – for the last few weeks I’ve just kind of run on my own at whatever distance/pace I felt like. And while it was nice to have break, towards the end I was starting to feel like I was losing focus a bit.

Does a training plan help you to feel more focused or constrained?

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Filed Under: Bart Yasso, Hal Higdon, RnR DC, Smart Coach, training

Friday Five

August 19, 2011 by 7 Comments
  • It’s funny sometimes where and how you can connect with another runner — yesterday I was having my refrigerator fixed again (that’s a whole other story!) and after the repairman had explained to me what the problem was, he then paused and said “So how’d you do?” I, of course, had no idea what he was talking about then he pointed to our whiteboard calendar hanging on the wall and said “The Rock n Roll – how was it?” Turns out he’s a runner and had wanted to run that race but had a conflict! We proceeded to spend the rest of the time while he was fixing the fridge talking about running and local races. He was a great guy with funny running stories – and best of all the parts were under warranty so it didn’t cost me anything!
  • After some tweaking, I think I have my training plan for Philly figured out. I used Smart Coach for my last two races, but when I looked at the plan it gave me this time it just felt like too much of the same. So after poking around and some Twitter conversations, I’ve modified the plan using some elements of Hal Higdon’s Advanced Half Training plan. My revised plan includes more speedwork throughout the entire training cycle and also incorporates more hill work in the first few weeks — both are areas I really want to improve on.
  •  My core work challenge continues. To be honest, I’ve missed a day here and there but overall I’m much more mindful about trying to get some core work in (at least planks) – I think it will pay off for me over time.
  • This has been a l-o-n-g week! For no particular reason, it just seems like for the first time all summer it has taken forever to get to Friday — anyone else feel like that?
Have a great weekend!
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Filed Under: giveaways, Gotein, Hal Higdon, Philly Half, running community, Smart Coach