Running In Place

I am totally back in the groove. I ran Saturday, Sunday, today - I feel great - like coming up for air after being under water in an 8 foot deep pool of self-indulgence. Phew!

In a recent comment Richard asked about my plans for the near future. I do have a plan - and so far (bowing in gratitude), it’s going well. I am fairly well following this Runner’s World beginner’s schedule except I have so far 1) kept my walking time to 1 minute, rather than 90 seconds; 2) done one extra rep each time; and 3) done each phase 4 x week rather than 3. I have presently just started the 3 min/1 min. sequence today and all is well - no ankle pain or otherwise, not terribly stressed cardio-wise (though it takes a few reps to get comfortable). I practiced belly breathing today which, for me, is like the old “pat your head and rub your belly” challenge - but it seemed I could feel it being beneficial.

Anyway, the next week is 5 min/2 min and I am still thinking that I would like to keep the walking to 1 minute. AND - as next Thursday I am jetting off to Ireland - I have planned to extend the 5:1 phase to 2 weeks. I do intend to take some runs in Ireland - as you can imagine, I am wildly looking forward to it but I am not going to pressure myself to progress through the schedule while I’m away. However many times I run and for however long I do it while there, I want to really enjoy it in the new locales I will be exposed to.

So to make a long story longer - if all goes well and I move through this schedule in a reaonable and not too impatient way - I hope to be running 30 minutes at a time by late October or early November. I do plan a 5K in February for the American Heart Association’s National Heart Run & Walk . And I hope and pray that I do this right this time because I really have my sights set on next year’s Boilermaker .

So the future’s not too far away I guess. Somehow, this time around, a year from now, 6 months from now, 6 weeks from now, is not that long to wait to reach my (ongoing) goals as long as I have the physical ability to move towards them. Right now it’s (still) just great to run!

Yeah yeah, can it Pollyana