Mud Mistakes and Long Run Plans

Week of November 4, 2012:

Sunday: Long run!  (50 min.)

Monday: DIY yoga (~20 min.)

Tuesday: Morning run (25 min.) + Bike commute (to work and to vote!)

Wednesday: Off? (I think…)

Thursday: Bike commute (to work and to wine!)

Friday: Off (so…tired…)

Saturday: Errands by bike

Total minutes run this week: 75.

Week of November 11, 2012:

Sunday: Long run!  (60 min.)

Hey hey!  I meant to say hello last week, but the week just ran away with me.  Between the election, multiple work meetings for which I had to prepare data, and a looming grant deadline that I’m trying to beat, I kept missing my opportunities to update ye olde blog here.  But I’m here now, so let’s talk about running.

First up: my long run today.  It was hard.  I ran for 60 minutes on a windy, warm day.  I hate to keep complaining about the heat because it’s so not interesting, but we’re back into the 70s and 80s (Fahrenheit—I know, I’m so American), and I think we can all agree that the hotter and sweatier you feel during a run, the faster you start feeling tired.  Cold air is energizing; hot air is stifling.  The wind was pretty challenging too.  At one point, it was blowing at just the right angle to keep my ponytail FWAP-FWAP-FWAPPING on the back of my head, which was so annoying that I actually grabbed my hair for a few strides, just to stop the FWAPPING.

Perhaps someone in a colder climate would like to trade weather with me for a few days?  Raquelita, how about a swap?  I would not mind running amidst the mountains and snowflakes right now.

During my run, whenever possible, I went off the harder concrete and asphalt paths to run on dirt, grass, gravel, etc.  I went off-path while running along the perimeter of the A & M golf course when all of a sudden I hit a mud slick and found myself slipping and sliding.  I’d been running at a pretty good clip, so the sudden change in velocity put me in a good position to sprain my ankle or hurt my knee.  Luckily, I regained my balance, hopped back on the path, and hoped that I had not injured myself.  My shoes were very, very muddy—in fact, I think they’re still sitting outside—but my legs felt okay.  We’ll see how everything feels tomorrow.

Hey, check out my groovy long run schedule up there!  I made it myself.  (I love Powerpoint and Flickr.  And making tables.)  I’m trying something new this year, something I read about on Ashley’s blog.  In the past, I’ve built up my long runs by repeating each long run twice, so in one month I’d run 30 min. for two long runs, then 40 min. for two long runs.  (Just to be clear, I always follow a schedule of one long run per week.)  I like that plan a lot—it builds endurance gradually, and I find that it’s less intimidating when you repeat each timed run once before moving onto the new longer time.

This year, I’m following a plan where you have step-back weeks, just to see what it feels like for me.  You can see the logic of the plan in my table, so I won’t belabor the point here.  I’m excited because I’ll be running longer times sooner than I would using my old plan.  I feel like I’ve been running long enough and trained for enough half-marathons that I can handle what might be a slightly more demanding long run schedule.  I won’t lie: I’m also looking forward to those step-back weeks.  Next weekend I’m scheduled to run just 40 minutes, which I’m sure will feel a lot easier compared to today’s sweaty, challenging 60-minute run.

Do you like to mix up your training plans?  Or are you loyal to one particular approach to distance running?

And happy wedding day (yesterday) to Chrissy!  Love and hugs to you, dear friend.