Just Run

I always get a thrill out of Monday. New week! New training plan! Where will I run this week? What days should I take off? I remember listening to a few different podcasts and coached athletes often don’t get their training plans until the week before they are supposed to. In effect being kept in the dark also harbored fewer anxieties or so such was the thinking. I not so sure about coaching and training plans. The rigidity just doesn’t appeal to me. Don’t get me wrong I’m sure there is a fair amount of flexibility built in or at least allowed for but for someone to tell me how far to run and when just means breaking the rules. Being self-coached I don’t have that novelty but my approach is fairly straight forward . . . Just run!

More times than not life gets in the way or what we call ‘the job’. The word job is a
dreaded three letter word that will throw more wrenches into the training machine then I care to admit. Okay I’ll admit it my career job has quite a bit of flexibility I start when I need to, finish when the job gets done. As long as everybody is happy I can go home. On rare occasions people aren’t happy. The other job firefighting is on-call so when the pager goes so do you. There has been times when people aren’t happy and the pager goes off and it is during those times when the training machine comes to a complete stop.

It all centers around the long run. So after I decide on my long run I plan on the rest of the week. I don’t want to call it filler but I don’t do speed work although I did one session and I don’t do Tempo runs so really it’s just to keep my legs going until the weekend Today is Monday and I unfortunately I had to get up early to go to the airport. I won’t get back until late so no run for Monday. I’ll run tomorrow, then Wednesday and probably Thursday. Friday I might schedule rest or if I feel like it I’ll run.

My plan for this week is to have a long run of about 22 miles or so. There is no rigidity if I feel like 25 I’ll do it or if I feel like 21 I’ll do that. One thing is for certain and I’ll build my miles from last week. I’d like to try a back to back long run if time permits. As my long runs get longer I have to wake up earlier and earlier so as not to impede on the family life. Last week I hit the road by 5 am. And was back by 8:30. This week I think I’ll shoot for between 4:00 and 4:30. I always plan my long runs for Saturday but sometimes life gets in the way and I’ve got to push it to Sunday.

The excitement and fun comes from planning on where I will go and to what points of interest I will see along the way. Lately I’ve been getting a huge kick from tracking it on my Garmin and seeing it on the map with Garmin Connect. I saw in Runner’s World where someone actually spelled out words with their running route. I think they were looking for sponsorship but cool idea all the same! The sense of accomplishment is so much more visual when you can see it on a map.

I would like to do a point to point but that would take a fair amount of logistics and a whole lot of planning. Maybe run out to Harrison or the other way out to Haney either way its about 50 K. I think I’ve centered this whole post just literary babble.

Like I said my plan is very simple and fairly straight forward. . . Just Run!