Posts Tagged: Richmond Half Marathon
No plan is the working plan, for now
As I look ahead to running the Blue Ridge Marathon next year, I’m already thinking about what I want to do for training. Plan or no plan or the in between.
Generally speaking, I do best when my exact mileage isn’t on paper or an Excel file. When I have a mileage range for each run or week, I don’t have any major problems. When I do have exact plans, I do OK for 2 weeks, then I get overwhelmed when I look at it and then change all my plans.
That, however, doesn’t mean I’m not open-minded about trying it again.
That, then, leads me to what I want to do the rest of 2013. This week is a perfect example of how not planning things has worked out to my advantage. While each day I’ve been anticipating possibly being thrown off for a long time with my second son, I got in 4 good runs, 3 short bike rides, and a solid amount of push-ups and sit-ups for my monthly goal.
If I can do that in a week filled with a lot of life’s stresses, then surely I can build a solid base through the rest of the year, run a decent Richmond Half Marathon and Surf ‘n’ Santa 10 Miler, and be ready for winter training for Blue Ridge.
Whether that’s on paper or an app or my own file or nothing at all is something I’ll do a lot of thinking about in the next few months. …
No. 1,025
- Writer’s block has hit me hard-core, but only here. Funny, though, that I’m not struggling at work or when I start a post on the #RunChat site.
- I am signed up for a spring marathon. Perhaps I should write about that one day. You can figure it out if you like blog tags.
- I met Patton of Optimal Run this week. Great guy, great company. Can’t wait to get to know him better and share more of our thoughts.
- Instead of writing in my spare evening time, I’m thinking a lot about baby names. It’s funny how one day something sounds just right, then the next it doesn’t. The process of picking names and also keeping it secret is one of the greatest things in life I’ve experienced.
- I have a fundraiser for my half marathon in November. I need to write about that, too, but in the meantime click here to go check it out.
- Quick update on my August goals: 10 running miles so far, 6.5 biking; 145 total push-ups in 6 days; 6 miles was my long run on Friday. Everything is right where it needs to be, except I missed a ride this morning due to thunderstorms.
Smarter, stronger, faster: the sequel
Nearly 3 years ago when faced a major injury, I vowed to come back smarter, stronger and faster. I did just that throughout 2011 and early 2012. Those words weren’t just things I typed – I repeated them to myself on runs, and I lived those words through my training.
I took breaks when something ached; I added cross training to my workouts; I broke PRs in every distance.
While I haven’t been physically injured, I found myself thinking about those 3 words in my run yesterday morning. I need to get smarter; I have to get stronger; and I want to get faster.
Having been mantra-less for more than a year, it’s time to get back to what was working before.
If it ain’t broke
When I decided last year not to run a fall marathon this year, the decision was easy. It was also refreshing. I’m realizing, though, I was trying to fix something that wasn’t really broken.
Now that I’m in the middle of summer and my long runs are generally capped at an hour, I’m readily admitting that I miss those long Saturday morning runs beyond 10 miles. Or, rather, I miss the idea of them.
That alone is what gets me excited about wanting to do another marathon again in 2014.
All’s not lost
With a baby on the way, doing a marathon in October or November would have been nearly impossible anyway. Sure all of the harder training would have been done, but the final month would have been full of sleep-deprived nights.
That’s why running the Richmond Half in November is much more appealing. Sure I’ll be tired, but if I can get back to my smarter-stronger-faster mindset over these next two months, I’ll be ready to end this year with a strong performance in a race.
Right now I don’t care about the PR or a certain time in that race – I just want to be in a better place physically and mentally because of it. Getting through a couple of months with a new baby will only add to that and get me set up well for realistic goals in 2014.
Speaking of goals
I’m probably going to fall short of my mileage goals I set for July, but I certainly don’t regret them. I think my own failures with those goals will likely mean I’ll set more goals at the beginning of August and beyond. My overall goals for the year were nice and I’ll still work on them, but I’m learning a lot about myself this summer and what works and doesn’t.
Setting short-term goals will be the path to a return to happiness with my running … and will be key to make my 10th year of running in 2014 the best ever.
No. 1,013
I didn’t fall off a cliff. I didn’t stop running. My computer didn’t get stolen.
I’ve just been following one simple blogging rule I have — if I don’t have anything to say, I don’t write. Not that I really have much to say right now, but I have enough thoughts for a bullet-point post combining life and running thoughts.
- Having “Nothing to train for” remains liberating. I’m looking to see what will fit in my schedule this summer and I know a few things will pop up, but I’m continuing to enjoy not having a major race to think about for a few months.
- I’ve had 4 consistent months of running miles in the low 80s and two months of biking with miles in the low 20s. It’s a nice base to set heading into summer and should make training for the Richmond Half in the fall completely different. I’m not ruling something else popping up, but that’s where my mind is right now.
- I have a new full-time job. I actually had planned to start today, but my allergies have been so bad this week that I decided to hold off until tomorrow. I ended up taking a 2-hour nap this morning.
- Speaking of jobs, I appreciate all the support in these past two months. I didn’t freak out about it, which led to me enjoying more family time and soaking in the small moments with my son. I think my new position will allow me the opportunity to continue to put family first.
Hanging out with my son by the flooded James River earlier this month.
- I’m moving. Again. Just a mile down the road, but to a house that has much more room and will make it much easier with our new addition in September.
- I realized after my last post that I failed to mentioned that we’re having another boy. This whole thing with just boys started nearly 8 years ago when we first got Duke.
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