Week 4

Non eventful week of running.  Removed my speed work session and exchanged it for some mile repeats.  Working my way back up into the 30 mile range on 4 days of running.  Finishing up my week tomorrow morning with a nice long run.  Feeling pretty good but definitely having a hard time warming up in the morning.  Yada yada.  2 more weeks to go before the real training begins.

Week 3

I am starting to feel like my ole self again this week.  I am running 30 quality miles a week right now, and loving it.  I am going to build my mileage up slowly this winter going from 30 - 50 over the course of 30 weeks instead of putting so much pressure on the build up in the last 16 weeks before Riverbank.  I plan to increase my mileage every 3rd week and layoff of my mileage every 2nd week.  I made a mistake building up too fast last year and will not make that mistake again.   I'm not looking to work too hard this winter, just smarter.  I want to come out of the winter feeling like I built a strong base, and took care of myself in the process.  I do not want to burn out in May and lose valuable time  in the early summer to injury or fatigue.  My core / flexibility / nutrition and speed work has definitely had a positive impact on my training.  I feel like my 2012 are within reach if I stick to the plan and not do anything too stupid along the way.

LSdistance

I had a little fun with my long run today and turned what was initially going to be long and slow into a strong tempo run.  I have been feeling really good this week.  My energy levels are at an all time high, thanks to the changes in my diet and my yoga / stretching/ core hybrid work that I have started to do on a regular basis this past month.  I think that bumping my mileage down to only 30 miles of quality running per week has been a welcome change from the banging and beating my body receives during the months of July - October. 
I have switched up my routes for this training cycle and have been enjoying my long runs on a modified version of the 5/3rd Riverbank run course.  I have returned to the East Grand Rapids HS track for one grueling track workout per week, and will be changing up the course on my mid week 6 mile tempo run every other week.  Change is so refreshing, and way more interesting.  Been listening to the Explosions in the Sky, and the new Sigur Ros live album and a little of Sagovia playing Bach.  New cycle, new music.
I have noticed a dramatic change in my energy levels when running close to my anaerobic threshold on the track.  I am keeping really good records of my diet again and am hoping that this new found feeling of "Bright Eyes" is something that can be repeated week in and week out.  I suspect that I have been malnourished for the past year and that I am just now starting to give my body what it needs to perform at this level.
I am thinking about going down to North Carolina to visit my parents in March and running a Half Marathon as a tune up for the 25k in May.  I know that I am getting ahead of myself with my winter training, and I do realize that November might be cold, but January is an ugly beast.  I really need to be able to run outside this year.  I hate treadmills, small 11 lap per mile indoor tracks, sticky exercise equipment and gyms in general.   I want to just go all hardcore this winter and tackle the dead cold and own it.  I see the need for some new winter gear shopping in the not so distant future.  I am excited, with the brightest of eyes.

Week 2

I almost forgot to factor the weather into my training this winter. Yesterday we received our first dose of  snow and I welcome it with open arms.  Bring it, lets make this winter one big giant mental test.  Last night I ran my second speed workout of this training cycle and felt really great about my times.  The track had a nice layer of snow on it so I wore my spikes for most of my workout.  After warming up for a mile and a quarter I did a workout of 4x800m with a easy 400m in between.  I would say that I was 90% recovered in between each 800m.  My pace needed to be in the 5:58 /mile - 6:12 pace and I nailed each 800 @ 5:48 or 5:49 pace.  My cool down was another mile for a total of 5 miles for the day.  Not much to talk about except for the fact that I think that the work that I am doing with my nutrition is starting to pay off.  Most of the time when I am doing an anaerobic workout I get hit with a level of fatigue that makes me want to stop.  Last night I felt like I had an extra gear and a brightness behind my eyes.  If this is only a placebo then great, let me have some more.  Whatever the case, something is happening inside my body.

And So We Begin... Again

Over the past month I have been investigating many different training plans, learning how to efficiently cross train, and taking a huge leap into focusing on my nutrition.  2012 is going to be a break through year for me.  This is the year that I am going to start racing again and reclaim the runner that lives inside of me.  Up until this point I feel that I have been easing myself back into running.  This past year, I have regained my confidence in my body and know that I can perform well if, I train hard and take care of myself along the way.  Its not an easy road, but I do feel that easing myself back into running over the last few years has kept me injury free and given me the time to rebuild my body.  I am ready to take this to another level.  This winter my only focus is to get faster.  I will deal with the endurance aspect of my training when February arrives.  I expect to run only 30 miles a week with 1/3 of those miles coming from my long run, and the other 2/3rds coming from threshold tempo runs, easy runs and speed work outs on the track.  I am hoping that the quicker speed of my workout and the lower mileage will help my body develop a faster turnover this winter.  I have in the past steered clear from speed work, but now I feel that my flexibility and strength levels are in a healthy place to start doing some real workouts on the track.  I am excited to see what happens.

Furman Plan Modified

As mentioned in a previous post I am going to attempt to use the Furman First Program for my build up stage to the 25k that I am running in May.  I do not plan on following the plan exactly as written, but using a modified version of this plan for this next training period.  I do plan on focusing my training for the next 16 weeks on the 3 day running week with 2 days cross training days.  How and why I am modifying the plan is pretty simple.  I agree with the basics behind the program but think that it suffers greatly with its pacing.  I am going to do a speed workout on the track every week but focus on my Vo2 max numbers from my previous training cycle.  As much as I like running sub 6 minute mile repeats I think that I will save those workouts for more half marathon specific training in the summertime.  I can see myself getting red lined running these times, and know what my body needs for a Vo2 max workout..  As for the tempo runs, I am pretty sure running @ 6:30 pace is fine for me but I am sure I will also benefit running  more realistic 6:40s in my tempo runs.  I don't plan on running any 10ks this year and only focusing on running 13.1 and 26.2 miles so tempo pacing 15 seconds under my mp pace seems a perfect fit.
For the long runs I will run my normal long run that has always worked for me before.  My long runs have always been a modified tempo like run.   Easy - MP - Easy runs progressing towards running more MP runs more towards the peak training session.
Now that I have butchered my plan of using this plan, I will say that I do like the idea of taking a day off between the 3 main sessions and cross training on the other 2 days.  I am planning on doing a simple easy run or a shake out run tonight just to ensure a nice fresh set of legs for my long run in the morning.
I have also started to do core work every other day of the week and a yoga / stretching session of 45 minutes every day.  I have started to pay more attention to my nutrition and am altering my diet as we speak.  Small steps first and more performance specific as the year goes on.
So, looking into the next 16 weeks of winter  I am hoping that these small changes in my training will help me when February 1st comes around and the real training begins.  For now, its these small steps that I hope will propel me towards a better future.

Speed Work

5:20 am track work outs are surreal.  This morning I did a workout that's goal is to fire up the anaerobic furnace and force my body to use oxygen more efficiently.  Running before the sun comes up is one thing.  Asking your body to run at a sub 6 minute mile pace is another.  I warmed up with an easy mile jog and then started my workout.  It takes two minutes for the body to get into an anaerobic state so really running 800m repeats at a  high rate of speed should do the trick.  My original goal was to run 3x1600 @ 5:55 pace, but my mind was not having that this morning.  I ran the following 1200m 1000m 800m 400m 400m.  I could do a full recovery on any run that is shorter than 800m.  With a 400 meter you need to repeat within two minutes of the start of the last one.  Once a week I am going to work on building off of this workout.  I am a little bit of a wimp when it comes to track workouts.  Running in oxygen debt makes me feel a little uneasy, but I do know that if I put the work in now, I will reap the rewards later on while racing.