Week 13: Begin with the end in mind

When my journey began 4 months ago I talked about beginning with the end in mind.  Just to be clear, the goal was and is...

To that end I decided to take 2009 to work on my running.  Specifically my 2009 goal is to get stronger and faster in the marathon.  That's what I've been working on up til now.  On February 15, 2009 I ran the Austin Half Marathon.  That's one race down and 2 to go.   

To review up to now, I spent the past 4 months building up my base fitness for a half marathon. The main focus on the training was just to be able to finish comfortably.  I followed a beginner's training program designed by Hal Higdon.  It consisted of strength and stretching on mondays, tuesdays a mid-distance run, wednesday a recovery run, thursday strength and mid-distance, friday rest, saturday cross training, and a long run on sunday.  The long runs started out at 3 miles and culminated at 12 miles.  

I didn't follow the workout exactly as laid out.  I went very light no the strength training and longer on the mid and long runs.  Often times I'd take Monday as a second off day to help me recover from the long runs on Sunday.  In the end, it all worked out just fine.  My goal was to finish comfortably which, admittedly, is a bit of an oxymoron, but never-the-less, I finished with a new personal best time of 1:58.  

Now, looking back, I realize I need to work on my foot speed and stamina.  There were times I was striding out at full bore and was still getting passed.  I also needed to build up some more stamina because losing my lunch at mile 11 is not my favorite thing to do.  

Building on those experiences, next up is another round of half marathon training.  This time I will incorporate plyometrics, strength training and more distance work.  The goal is to knock my time down by 10 minues.  That puts me at 8:14 miles.  That will take some work, but it's doable.

So this training plan is slightly more ambitious than the last.  Once again Monday is stretch and strengthening, Tuesday is a mid-distance run, Wednesday is speed work, Thursday is strength training and a recovery run, Friday is an off day, Saturday is a short pace run, and Sunday is for long runs.  There are 3 races built into the training plan at weeks 3, 6 and 9.  Week 12 is another half marathon.  I don't have an official target race, so it may wind up just being me and a closed course.  We'll have to wait and see.  For now, I'm still in pursuit and the journey is what makes it all worthwhile.