Re Boot

Week two of conditioning started on Sunday. I pounded out an easy 7 miles on a beautiful 40 degree day. 40 degrees feels like a sunny day on a beach somewhere compared to the past few months. As with most of the other starts of a new season I find that my cardiovascular system gets back in shape way before my body can handle the stress and strain of running again. This year I think I am finally able to capitalize all of my mistakes from years past and train smarter than ever before. Take your time or take time off for injuries. With that in mind.. My conditioning plan for the month is to jog an easy 125 miles or so before I do any real workouts. My plan is to only run 5 days a week, 1 day a week I will pound out an hour long core workout and one day a week will just be a hard day off. Taking days off at this point in my training will help my body adjust to the new stress and strain and hopefully by April I will be ready to add some real workouts into the mix. I have not decided what my overall goal is for the year, but I am leaning towards working on my 5k speed during the spring and summer while slowly building my endurance back up for a super fast fall half marathon. As much as I would like to run the Chicago marathon again doing so limits my ability to run any other October races. I love October. We shall see. My first race of the year is going to be a 5k in Chicago on memorial day. As of right now the idea of running sub 6 minute miles seems like a far off dream, but as I have learned every other year my fitness always returns no matter how out of shape you are at the beginning of the season.