Wednesday, May 21, 2008

The Hills are Alive

Okay, I admit that yesterday for my hill training I ran on a treadmill. Guilty as charged. And I started off at level four and ended up moving down to level one (but only after 25 out of 40 minutes). So maybe these weren't the most daunting hills ever. But the thing is I'm slightly out of shape, and this is the longest run I've logged since the half marathon, so I was pretty happy with the way things turned out. Unfortunately, as I sit here typing this, I am struggling to cope with an inexplicably upset stomach, so we'll see whether today's mid-distance run actually happens or not. If it doesn't, I can always just scoot things back by a day and make this a day off. No big deal, right?

I really appreciated everyone's comments on my training schedule--I thought you all made really good points that I hadn't taken into consideration, and based on your input I am thinking of making some modifications. Here's what I have in mind:

Monday: Off
Tuesday: Hills
Wednesday: Mid-distance easy run, weight training
Thursday: Speed/Tempo
Friday: Off, weight training
Saturday: Long run
Sunday: Easy short run, weight training

In terms of mileage, right now I think 30 miles might be a slightly lofty goal for me (given the shape I am in--that original training plan was pretty ambitious of me!) but shouldn't be unattainable once I get back into running more consistently. I think for now I will aim for 20-25, ideally even slightly over 25. We'll see how it goes!

Total mileage this week: 4.2 miles

2 comments:

Chris said...

I like this plan a lot, Emilie. You are giving yourself a full day off, which your body will appreciate as it takes a beating through out the week. You are also getting your hill, speed, and tempo work in. And who says you can't work up to 30 miles a week as your body gets back in to shape and prepared for the extra road work.

Alissa said...

Your schedule looks good to me. Do you have a race or something in mind farther out on the horizon? If not, maybe you would want to take a day to try something totally different like a group fitness class or a sports league.

This year I finished a marathon in January and put another one on the schedule for October. So I had about four months to be lackadaisical about running before the next training program kicked in. I joined a volleyball team, went hiking with friends on the weekends, slept in on Saturday mornings and tried to run few days a week when it felt right. I didn't have a running schedule because I wanted a chance to feel "unchained" from running for awhile. It was great. Well worth it. Now I'm getting back into running and loving it again. Just something to think about :-) If you aren't enjoying running, remember to be nice to yourself and take a break.