Yoga Pants Life

Training for the LA Rock n’ Roll half has officially started and I’m pumped!! I’ve been riding the running struggle bus since last fall and now that a new training cycle is here, I feel like I have a clean slate. It doesn’t matter what happened in San Diego last June (or what I did before that) – the only thing that matters is the future.

I’ve been running 2-3 times a week for the past few weeks (not too shabby, considering I spent half of my nights in July at a hotel or on a red-eye flight…I was EXHAUSTED by the end and I’m still recovering…getting old is tough, man.) and despite taking so much time off running this year, I actually feel better. I really haven’t lost speed (if anything, I feel faster) and I’ve fallen back in love with running. There is nothing better than the endorphin rush at the end of a run. I REALLY missed the endorphins during my extended break.

So what now? I’m still finalizing my training plan for the LA Rock n’ Roll half, but I decided to save Hanson’s for a future race (it feels a bit too advanced for my needs right now) and am doing a combo of Nike and Hal Higgdon’s half marathon plans. So far, so good and I hope to post in more detail soon (HA!)

I’m not sure it really matters what plan I pick at the end of the day. All I know is that I need to stop training like an asshole.  While I love running and I LOVE marathon/half marathon distances, all the skipped runs and lack of hard workouts, coupled with crappy eating, have made most of my past experiences suck (yeah, I know this sentence doesn’t make any sense…how can you love something that sucks?) I have NOT training to the best of my ability. I haven’t respected the distances.  In other words, I’ve been training like an asshole.

And I’m done training like an asshole. I’m done running (limp/walking/jogging) races because I trained like an asshole. No more. Nope. Done.

I’m not looking to BQ or become the fittest person on earth. I just want to cross the finish line feeling strong and proud and knowing that I did just about everything possible to set myself up for success.

I have 11.3 weeks to go until the LA Rock n’ Roll Half. It’s a very hilly course and southern California weather in the fall is a total crap-shoot. I’ve experienced cold and foggy Thanksgivings and my last two Thanksgivings in San Diego were pushing 95 degrees, so I have no idea what to expect. Regardless, my goal is to be prepared for whatever conditions I encounter and take them head-on.

How I do in LA will determine what comes next. I’m registered for the San Diego Rock n’ Roll Marathon in June of 2019…I’m planning on the full, but can always drop to the half. I also really want to do the LA Marathon and the CIM (California International Marathon) eventually. LA is in March and CIM in December…but I need at least a six month break in between marathons and 2 per year would likely be my max, so I’m not sure how to fit everything in if I do the full in San Diego. I also want to run Chicago and NYC again, but that’s probably going to wait until 2020 and beyond. I’m getting way too far ahead of myself.

For now, my focus is on training for this half marathon – goals to follow in another post.

Here’s what I’ve done so far this week (and what I have planned)

Monday: Rest (I ran 4.5 miles the Saturday before – the longest run I’ve done since June 2nd…I also swam 500 yards as a cool-down afterwards)

Tuesday: Treadmill intervals – 0.10 walk warm-up, 0.25 miles from 5.0-5.5 with 0.05 mile walk breaks in between (still warm-up) 0.10 from 5.6-7.0 with 0.05 mile walk breaks in between. The workout ended up being 4.20 miles with the walking cool down included.

Wednesday: 4.5 mile run…I tried to keep it ‘easy’ but I’m still getting back into shape, so I know my HR crept into the 160s more than once.

Thursday: I was scheduled to swim, but got to the pool and discovered I forgot my swimsuit. I ended up taking an unscheduled rest day (but still walked 10,000 steps throughout the day.)

Friday: Hopefully I’ll get my swim re-do today and I plan to walk 10,000 steps

Saturday/Sunday: I have a birthday party and wine tasting plans this weekend, so I’m not sure how my ‘long’ run will fit in, but I plan to get 5 miles in on one of the days and take a rest day for the other (and not an ‘active rest’ day, but a ‘real rest’ day)

#DTLAA