Gobble Gobble

Hot on the heels of running the Buckeye Bash 5k race last Saturday, I have signed up for the Columbus Turkey Trot 5 Mile on Thanksgiving Day. I had a decent pace at the Buckeye Bash (10:05/mi), so I'm hoping that will carry over into Thursday.

I'm trying to get back in the habit of running short distances (around 5k) before I go to work in the morning. It's rough getting up at 5:00am but when I do, I feel like I've already gotten something accomplished for the day no matter what else it brings.

Bring on the stuffing!!

Relax

I'm the type of person who needs to have clearly defined goals to work towards so I can have that feeling of accomplishment when I reach them. That's why marathon training was mentally relatively easy for me to get into. Physically it was really demanding, but having a set schedule helped me to stay focused.

Right after "the big run" I decided that I was going to try to start working on getting faster. I set myself up a six week schedule that would gradually increase my distances from 0 miles on marathon week back up to 30+ miles per week.

Well I decided that I was going to try run all of these as fast as I could in a bid to increase my speed. The resulting runs were indeed faster, but also started to cause me more pain. I was really starting to dread lacing up my shoes everyday and got to a point where it just wasn't fun.

This week I've tried to put the focus back on enjoying the run and not trying to out do myself everytime I step out the door. It's been far more enjoyable.

Side note: Here's a great little article with some hamstring strengthening exercises. I'm going to try to work these into my regiment and see if I can ease some of the difficulties that I have with my right hamstring. http://bit.ly/hamstrings1

Strange Things afoot at the Circle K

Something is really odd. The last couple of times that I've run, I feel like I've never run before. Horrible panting, leg pain, shin splints, side stitches....I don't know if I'm doing something wrong or if I'm just having trouble getting back into the swing of things post-marathon. It's very disheartening.

Super fail, excuses, big win

Laela(Angel), Ann(Angel), Sarah(Angel), Christiana(Jaws), and I(db) all went and ran the Dead Celebrity 3 Miler on Halloween. Well going for my PR in the 5k was a super fail. I ended up finishing four minutes slower than last year, but that's okay because I had a fantastic time. Lots of great costumes, pizza, and beer afterwards. We followed up by going to Bob's.

I've got plenty of excuses for my time being slower, but the long and the short of it is that I haven't done any speed training at all in the last six months. Oh well, I'll get it next year.

Now for my big win....as of this evening's run I crossed the 2000 mile threshold since I started running with the Nike+ system. That's a lot of miles in seventeen months.

Three Weeks, Three Races

Wow, I didn't even realize this until this morning, but I'm running three races in three consecutive weeks this month. The Columbus Marathon on October 18 was the first, the Nike Human Race 10k at Ohio State on October 24 was the second, and the Dead Celebrity Run 5k on October 31 is the third.

I was really happy with my time on the Human Race 10k on Friday considering it was my first run since marathon. I finished it in 1:07'32" It rained REALLY hard at first but then it stopped.

I'm excited to run the Dead Celebrity Three Miler on Saturday. It'll be the second year in a row that I've run it. Last year my time was 28:08. I was hoping to get in in 27 minutes or under, so that's what I'm shooting for this year.

Now that the marathon is over and my week (okay maybe not a full week) of rest is completed, I need to get back on a schedule of regular running. I've built a post race training plan that is effectively a reverse taper that starts at twelve miles and then adds around ten miles a week. I skipped the first day (Sunday) run because of the Human Race Friday that I did Friday night. I'll make up those three miles tonight.

Rebuilding Mileage - Schedule IV

Week #	Sun.	Mon.	Tue.	Wed.	Thu.	Fri.	Sat.	Total
1	26.2	Rest	Rest	Rest	Rest	Rest	Rest	26.2
2	3	Rest	3	Rest	3	Rest	3	12
3	6	Rest	4	Rest	6	Rest	4	20
4	8	Rest	6	5	6	Rest	5	30
5	10	Rest	6	8	6	Rest	5	35
6	4	Rest	4	Rest	4	Rest	4	16

I've eaten junk food almost exclusively since crossing the finish line on October 18 and am feeling like the proverbial "Lead Zepplin." It's time to kick it back into gear.