Running In Place

I’m going to grouse about the weather. Yes yes, it’s true that a short time ago I was complaining about the unseasonable warmth of the season - that I felt it was the cause of alot of tenacious and debilitating GI and respiratory infections, and that I wished it would get and stay colder. Well evidently from my lips to God’s ears cause I got what I asked for in spades! This entire week has been sub-zero (F), and the windchills sub sub-zero. I mean high temps this week have been 0F/-18C, and the windchills in excess of -35F/-37C.

Call me a wuss but I have not gotten alot or running in over the past several days. There is just not enough silk, fleece, Polartec, or nylon in my arsenal to dress in such a way as to make -35 the least tolerable. That is the kind of cold that is physically painful and it always finds its way in through some tiny opening in your clothing and soaks into your skin and makes your bones freeze to the marrow. See I tried, and I’m still traumatized. I sure hope all those SOB viruses that have been plagueing the area have as fragile a constitution as I do As for the silver lining, next week’s temps in the teens and 20’s (F) will be a welcome heat wave!

So I sat down for a little while with blank calendar pages to figure out my running plans. I worked on a schedule to get me from here to my 5 miler in early March. Between that run and the Boilermaker I’ve got a little while in which I will probably do some 5K’s, maybe a 10K - then, in early-mid May, I’ll have to start initiating some training schedule for the 15K. There’s alot of different options for this around here as it is such a big deal in the community: there are paid training programs, one posted on the Boilermaker website, lots of developmental runs put on by the local running clubs, even a plan put on by the local TV station where they choose a bunch of first time racers, provide their training, and follow them throughout on the news. Plus, there’s any 10 miler training program found on the internet or in a book. But what about this - I actually kind of favor the RW 1/2 Marathon Plan. It seems like a really managable plan, I should reasonably have the base to begin it in May, and I kind of like the idea of being over prepared, though not necessarily over trained. I guess I spent so much of last year in stasis that I am really wanting to excel (within reason) this year. The Boilermaker is my big deal focus right now but after that, why not a 1/2 marathon in the fall or even Jeff’s proposal regarding the Rock-n-Roll (1/2) Marathon in January. So am I being a little silly? Should I wait till I have a 1/2 on deck before I train for a 1/2 and just focus on a 10 mile plan? Will I be better prepared and possibly perform a little better if I over shoot a little with a higher mileage plan? Maybe I should just chill out and run my first 5 miles before I start planning a Gumpian run across the continent. Just contemplating it all.