Getting Back on a Training Schedule

Back in December I was all like, “Hey, I’m go kinda free-form with this running thing for a while!”

That didn’t work so well.

I ran… some. I got faster… some.

Then came the normal reasons for stopping exercise: hey, got this huge party to plan; the guys are coming over for D & D; I’ll clean house instead; I just need a little bit of relaxation; etc.

I’m doing alright, though, really. All the huffing and puffing during our bit of hiking in the mountains seems to have been mostly due to the thin air, because I wasn’t sore a bit on subsequent days. Greg and I have observed that while he gains stamina and strength very easily, he loses it quickly when sedentary; I tend to improve more slowly, but retain longer and with less maintenance effort.

But I clearly need a plan and a routine. The musical program was too unstructured for me. I didn’t feel like there was a clear, measurable progression to the workouts.

There are fixed obligations in my schedule (even now!) that make for nice justifications for exercising less, but I really, really want to be a solid 8-10k’er (5-6 miles).

So I’m going back to my good friend Hal, who got me through the 5k in the winter. I don’t have a race in 8-9 weeks, no, but working up to the intermediate 10k program afterwards seems like a good move. I’m still not interested in anything marathon-length at the moment, although I’m not averse to the idea. Twenty-six miles would need to be a social, group endeavor for me; that’s an experience, not just a thing to do to pass the time.

Tonight I’m hopping out for a 2 mile run and some strength work (Thursday’s work from the 10k schedule). I’ll follow the rest of Week 1 this Saturday and Sunday, then do all of Week 1 next week to ease into things.

I feel like I’ve missed most of the spring season for outdoor running, and I want to catch up. Grr.