Changing direction (yet again)

Who ever said that running had to be in circles. I seem to constantly be changing directions with my running. Sometimes even getting lost. I have indeed changed my training plan once again. After last week, I realized I would need a better (suited) (road) bike to carry out the workouts on bike days; I would also need to become much better at swimming before counting it as a workout. So I have decided to use the Run Tex weekly workouts posted on-line. However, I will still use the write-up as a guideline for creating my own, may even use some things from the cross-training program I have just abandoned.

Monday - August 11 - 60 min run

Tuesday - August 12 - Speed work @ track, warmup - speed drills - 2 miles Fartlek - cool down

I realized today: I love the atmosphere, kin-manship I experience at a marathon (I feel like I belong). And the ability for me to run 26.2 miles without stopping, having support, water, etc. along the way. I would run that far every day if circumstances allowed. I do, however, also revel in the idea that I will have run 3 in this calendar year; 4 within a 12 month period (affirmation of accomplishment).

Wednesday - August 13 - Day off, did some swimming in the lake but essentially a day off

Thursday - August 14 - 75 min run, 9 miles

Friday - August 15 - 77 min run, same 9 miles (but w/o stopping @ traffic lights, to see Kimbell, etc.)

Saturday - August 16 - 57 min run, Town Lake - Mopac/i35 loop 7 miles (felt really good)

Lately & New Training Skedj

Last week I took a trip to the Grand Canyon, good to be away for a bit, see God's country, enjoy altitude, but not good for my running schedule. I did that Monday and followed it with an intense hike on Tuesday, but exercise was limited to walking the rest of the week.

Monday- July 28 - Ran 40 min @ 6,000 ft

Tuesday - July 29 - Hiked 15.6 "+" miles round trip (Bright Angel Trail **NOT recommended to hike down and back up in a day, but we did**),(I say "plus" because the way I up I experienced part of the trail hike, to help those I was hiking with)

Wednesday - July 30 - walked 30 min, to get legs moving again after Tuesday's hike

Due to long travel days in the car on Thursday and Friday, I did not run

Returning to Austin, I decided to get serious about this marathon in November. I found an article that featured an 18 week Marathon Training Program. Since November 16 is 16 weeks away, I started with week 3. The thing I particularly like within this schedule is the use of cross-training.

Monday - August 4 - 30 min run, easy

Tuesday - August 5 - 1 hr bike ride

Wednesday - August 6 - Mile warm-up, 10 min stairs, 10 min run (@ 8 min mile pace), 10 min stairs (matching efforts of first 10 minutes of stairs), Mile cool-down

Thursday - August 7 - 30 min bike

Friday - August 8 - Practically a day off, 10 min lap swim

Saturday - August 9 - 1 hr 53 min run, apr. 12. 5 miles, hills, HOT

Recovered...

So, after a long sabbatical from running and and an even longer one from writing seriously, I have recovered. Last week, July 14-18, I attended the Taos Summer Writers' Conference. It was a wonderful week for me in more than one way. I learned so much about what it means to be a writer and what I need to do to make my writing better. Taos is located @ 8,000 ft above sea level. This allowed for cleaner, fresher, and cooler air. I decided it would be a good idea to establish a schedule for myself, in hopes to continue in the writing life. As I have already made clear, within this blog, running is a part (when healthy and uninjured) of my life already. Adding the altitude to my availability, i picked Taos as the perfect opportunity to commit myself to the two disciplines.

Waking up - Running - Cleaning up - Writing...

Monday- July 14- 4 miles @ 8,000 ft, easy

Tuesday- July 15- 45 min @ 8,000 ft, moderate

Wednesday- July 16- 1 hr @ 8,000 ft, moderate

Thursday- July 17- 35 min @ 8,000 ft, moderate

Friday- July 18- 4 miles @ 8,000 ft, hard

Monday- July 21- 40 min (back in Austin), Westcreek

Wednesday- July 23- 1/2 mile wrmup, 4 x 800's @ 3:05 pace, mile cool down @ 8:00 pace

Thursday- July 24- 40 min, hard, Town Lake Trail

Friday- July 25- 40 min, moderately easy, Westcreek

Week 45

Monday- I'm back; woke up early (6 a.m., cooler temp) to run before school... easy 30 minutes on hills of Exposition from house on Forest Tr. Felt good, no pain.

Last few Weeks (41-44)

Because of the pain mentioned in the Week 40 post, I took some days off to recover. I ran 7 miles a day for 3 days April 24, 25, 26... These were wonderful runs, however, I encountered knee (bursa), lower back, and achilles pain.

I took off two full weeks from running. April 27 - May 11

It was depressing and I found myself longing to run; I missed it while it was gone.

week 40

Monday- ran 50 minutes, moderate... forest tr to left on windsor to right on pecos to left on 35th to right on mt bonnel, up steps @ mt bonnel, down left to mt bonnel over to right on balcones left on 35th right on pecos left on windsor right on forest tr.

Tuesday- same route, same intensity, but backwards... ran up balcones and down the other side

**Sustaining mid-week knee pain; stopped running for the rest of week**

week 39

Sunday- Cap 10k, rainy & humid... 45:45, felt great afterwards (almost like i hadn't even run it)

Monday- 60 minutes easy to moderate on las vegas blvd, perfect weather, sunny and 59

Wednesday- 55 minutes, same route, same conditions

Friday- 40 minutes moderate, forest tr to left on windsor to left on exposition to lake austin blvd, turned around back on exposition to 35th, turned around ran on exposition to left on windsor right on forest tr

Saturday- 4 miles, easy... forest to enfield down path to town lake to zilker... threw football around for about 45 min and then back