Hello again....

My blogging for the past six months was over at the USAFit/Philly blog. It might be confusing to keep two blogs but I think, I'm going to keep my personal training stuff here and just comment on group stuff over there.

So, I'm back.......

It's time to start thinking about training for Gettsyburg. I've decided to use Hal Hidgon's Intermediate I schedule with a few modifications. I'm reversing the Saturday and Sunday schedules so I'll be going long on Saturdays and shorter on Sundays. That's the habit we've gotten into with Phillyfit and it works for me. I like the idea of running again on Sunday. When I trained for Goofy I ran back to back Sat and Sun and I believe I was in the best shape of my short running career at that time. The second mileage day is shorter in this plan but still I think there will be benefits.


I haven't read the descriptions for each day of the schedule yet but at first glance there doesn't seem to be any hill, tempo or speed workouts. So I've made my own notes to add those on the Tuesday and Thursday runs. Of course a lot of that depends on the weather. If it's icy or snow out just getting the miles in will be the priority. My primary goal is not to miss any workouts. That means all the runs plus core workouts on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. An 18 week schedule will start the week between Christmas and New Year's Until then I added my own distances (starting this past Sunday) working up to the 'official' start on December 28th. I have plenty of cold weather gear and I plan to ordre a pair of yaktrax in case we get another winter like last year. I'm determined not to let the weather stop me.

I admit to a small reservation about two 20 milers but I think if I stick to the schedule I'll be ready when the time comes. I'll take it one week at a time. Worst case, is I skip the first 20 miler and just do the second one. I really want to try for both though.

A wandering 50 minutes

I thought I had a planned route today but somehow it didn't come to be. I headed out shortly after work and got so lost in my head that I passed the turn I intended to make. Interesting. And very liberating! So I continued to run turning here or not and there or not and meandered through my neighborhood with no idea of time or distance.

After a bit I stopped back in the house for a drink and some stretches. I looked at the clock and saw that I was out for 15 minutes. I went back out again with a plan in mind only to change it part way into it and ran for another 25 minutes.

It felt really good.

A nice run followed by an even nicer walk

I met some USAFit/Philly friends at Oaks today. (2 weeks until our official start). We ran the Audobon Loop (4 miles). I cut off at the dog park spur and began walking. I walked to the end of there and back (4 miles) and then went back up toward Pawlings Road to find the 'other' Walnut Hill path to the River Trail. I found it but I don't think it's suitable for the group. The last part is on dirt path with lots of roots and ruts. I don't want to be responsible for anyone twisting an ankle. Of course they could do that on paved or gravel paths too but even more likely on this one.

I walked then to the end of the River Trail and back up Pawlings Road to the SRT and then back to my car. I hadn't really planned to do all the extra walking and ran out of water. :( Nothing serious but would have been nice to have more before getting back to Oaks.

Permission to walk

I woke up tired this morning. Ok so that's kind of par for the course lately. It is what it is. I jumped ahead to this evening to think about running after work. (Not a good idea when you're tired already but if you can figure out a way to control my wandering brain let me know... like now! LOL)

Anyway the point of this ramble is that I gave myself permission to walk. I keep forgetting that I can do that. So when I arrived home, still tired, I dressed for a run with permission to walk and ended up running three quarters of the distance.

Until next time.... :)

Getting by with a little help from my friends

It's been three weeks since I ran. No excuses. I just haven't been doing it. Today I went to Betzwood to see who would show up for an informal USAFit/Philly spring run. Altogether there were 5 of us. We chatted for a bit and then started out. I assumed I'd be plodding along alone as one of our group was walking and the other three are typically much faster than I. As it turned out the three other runners were not in any hurry and decided to keep pace with me. That was very kind of them for sure. I had an absolutely wonderful time. Three miles went by before I even realized it. On the return trip we went a route I had never done completely before. It was really nice and I look forward to adding it to the USAFit/Philly routes this year.

The only downer was my knee. The same one that I fell on (hard) walking around Quebec last weekend. I'm not sure if there is relation but after about 5 miles it hurt a lot .. a shooting pain. If I walked it would subside but start up again as soon as the pounding of running started again. I'll have to be careful with it and test it out later in the week.