Saturday, I updated my Excel spreadsheet with my latest and greatest workout. A seven-miler through most of Center City and through the parkway and back.
I’m five weeks deep and training for my third half-marathon. My biggest challenge this go-around I’d say is surviving the cold when I train outdoors.
Sergio has also admitted to me that whilst he does not cheat on his long runs, the cold has impacted his shorter runs. In fact, come to think of it, he’d mentioned to me that the only runs he had NOT cut the runs short were the ones he’d run entirely on the treadmill! He has managed to run every single one of his long runs outdoors unlike his training for last year’s LA Marathon. Then again, he’s doing the half in Miami for which the training run requires less mileage.
As for me, I’m not a big fan of the cold and I am very susceptible to getting sick from wind chill. Not to mention my lung capacity does not fare so well. Cold temperatures is one thing – case in point – it was 25 degrees in Lancaster County when I ran the Amish Half first weekend in November. There was hardly ANY wind. My strategy for survival was breathe as slowly as possible – and it worked.
Contrast that with Philadelphia, which has warmer temps, even if oh-so-slightly, but the wind is everywhere and it has messed with my breathing, even if extremely slight.
My new shoes! 29 December 2010.
I’ve also been going full speed ahead with my weightlifting and really pushing it with the quads. I really want – and need – those to be stronger if I am to be able to run a full. Stronger abs are another focus, so now I am trying to work on 2 days of weighttraining with most focus on my lower body.
Finally I’m also putting more spinning and swimming into my crosstraining as opposed to the elliptical. Less stress on my knee joints, which now I really have to watch because outside the gym and living in downtown Philadelphia, I walk everywhere, sometimes up to 10 blocks at a time. So I use those legs a lot, even when I’m not running. Even when I’m working half time in DC, again, the same issue applies, I am walking just about everywhere and/or relying on the Metro to get me around.
Right now, I am successfully keeping up with my regiment even with school. The first month with my accelerated ethics class will be easy and hard – I will have to kick myself in the rear end to force my long runs early in the morning as the class is Saturday afternoons.
Most important, it’s about attitude and if nothing else, I think that will carry me through. I’m pumped up to get back to school, pumped up meeting more people and getting myself back into a real community again (so to speak), and of course, pumped up hitting the pavement for my next series of races.
At least with running, if I can suck it up on the treadmill – which I’m not really caring for – then I think I’ll be fine for VAB. If I can just challenge myself, I should be able to easily go sub-2 on my next half, maybe even 1:55.
And so the journeys continue.
The Ninja In Me 