Happy New Year

I am not a fan of New Year Resolutions. I made this promise to myself back at the end of September. It just happens that it is New Year's Day when I realize that I'm all in. Back in September, I told myself that if I could get to 3 miles by the time registration opens for the OCNJ Half (February 1st) that I would go for it. Well, I managed that milestone in December so (on February 1st) I'm in. :)

Now that I've made 3 miles, I'm continuing my training in threes. 3 times a month; 3 days a week. I'm in an off week right now so on Saturday January 5th, I'll start with 4 miles. My plan calls for two weeks at the same mileage; plus one mile on the third week; then a week off. Then the plus one mileage for the first two weeks of the next session followed by another plus one and so on. So 4-4-5-off; 5-5-6-off; and so on. Pleasantly enough that brings me to 13 miles on August 31st - one month before the race. So I either have wiggle room or will run maintenance miles in the weeks leading up to the race. Win-Win.👍

The off weeks give me a chance to spend a weekend hiking, biking or other activity to break things up. When I first thought about training for another half one of my first thoughts was that I don't want to give up my hikes. Plus, the week off running gives me something to look forward to if when the running weeks feel rough. And let's face it, there will be some rough keep smiling keep moving weeks.

If your are still reading this you may wonder what 3 times a week looks like. Well since you asked.... LOL....Tuesdays are half the distance run on Saturday. Tuesdays will be the only day I time my run. My new Gymboss has a nifty stopwatch feature so I'll hit it on at the start; hit it off at the end and then write it down. On Thursday of the first two weeks I want to do hills or pace workouts for the time that it took me to run Tuesday's distance. Since the third weekend running is a new long distance; the Tuesday and Thursday that week will be simple fun runs of half the weekend distance. For the visual learner in the group (that's usually me) the first session looks like this:

Wk 1: Sat 4 mi; Tue 2 mi timed; Thurs a pace workout for the time it took to run 2 mi on Tuesday

Wk 2: Sat 4 mi; Tue 2 mi timed; Thurs a hill workout for the time it took to run 2 mi on Tuesday

Wk 3: Sat 5 mi; Tue 2.5 mi; Thurs 2.5 mi

Wk 4: off running

And so on. Fridays is date night so Fridays will stay open as much as possible. Sundays and Wednesdays will be used for whatever I need that week; perhaps a flex day for running when immovable objects mess with Tues or Thurs; or when all goes well some body-weight training or additional non-running time on my feet.

If you are still reading, I thank you for giving me the opportunity to spell it out. It's been in my head for weeks. Writing it down makes me feel committed.

Will it work? Stay tuned and you'll find out. I'm in it to finish.

Keep smiling keep moving,
Paula