Transition Week

After 14 days off from exercise I am back! Easing into another training plan. I'm researching, planning, counting days, looking at the race calendar, wondering, and hoping for the future.

My plan is to run on pavement for the next two-five weeks in my Asics to build good form and allow my left ankle to fully heal without risk of twisting it again. My ankle feels almost back to normal but my achillies tendon is still a bit swollen where the ankle brace rubbed on it during the River Jam Race.

Sun May 24- Easy 15min run around downtown Mount Holly. I ran for time and let my whims guide me down smaller streets I don't usually get to see.

Tue May 26th- Did a comfortable 20min elliptical focusing on an even stride and "foot strike". I did two rounds of my weight circuit in the gym with just a few less pounds or reps on certain exercises.

Thr May 28th- Swam in the Catawba river and then went rock climbing at River Jam at the USNWC. "Thor" the lightning detector siren went off so we had to wait for 30ish min before we could get in the water.

Sun May 30th- went for an easy 29min run around mount holly. My achillies have been sore, my ankle tweaked on Friday so it's also sore and, my feet have been swelling while standing at work all day.

I'm thinking that I may ditch the gym membership in the next month and try the USNWC's Open Water Swim and late night climbing on River Jam nights plus some body weight strength routine for hips/core/gluts/knees. I like incorporating cross training into my weekly training. I also like how different swimming is from running. I feel like it allows me to still exercise cardiovascularly while using different muscles from running. I'll just have to learn how to put on a swim cap.

I have 17 weeks from now to train for the Wild Vine Half Marathon. I've been reading over various Hal Higdon training plans and I believe my plan, as of now, is to do the first 5 weeks of the Novce2 training plan and then switch to the Intermediate plan for the next 12 weeks up to the race. I haven't done any track workouts or tempo runs since college and I'd like to see if my body can handle the training.

I was looking over the race results from last year's Wild Vine race and the top female ran the race in 1:57:14. This gives me something to strive for.

I ran the 2011 Battleship Half Marathon in Wilmington as my first half marathon race in 1:50:30.

According to RW pace calculators I am currently on track to run about the same pace as my last half. So... I think I'd like to train to run at 1:45:00 pace this time. I'm having an internal personal struggle. Should I get a GPS watch? I beat up watches. If I'm gunna spend a lot of money I need to know I can care for it.So far this year I have made the decision to run for distance and not tie because I want to learn to better listen to my body and not get sucked into the pace numbers. I do have a tendency to push and train too hard. I'm not good at recovery. Maybe I'm getting better? If I'm training for a trail race on trails that don't have mile markers a gps device that tells me my pace and distance would sure be helpful.

In order to qualify for the Boston Marathon I have to run under 3hr35min which is approximately 8min mile pace. Equivalently a half marathon at 1hr45min would be the same pace. I'm contemplating doing the Disney World Marathon in January. It would be an excuse to visit family in Florida.