Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Schedule? What schedule?

I've determined that for the upcoming Fox Cities Half Marathon it wasn't even worth it for me to stress out about putting together a training schedule.

Because I haven't followed what I put together.

First off it was super abbreviated. When I penciled in runs on my calendar I think it ended up being 7 weeks. Not a ton of time, but I was OK with that. I figured as long as I got the long runs in and a few runs during the week, I'd be able to handle the 13.1 miles.

Well those mid-week runs? Not really happening as often as I'd like. But it's not because I'm not running, because I am. It's just that the times I do run during the week I've got a few other priorities.

Mainly the long run.

See on the schedule the long run is penciled in for Sunday, but I figure if I get it done Saturday or Sunday it's good. Well. That's my problem. I haven't done a single long run on a Saturday or Sunday yet.

Don't believe me? Week 1 I just skipped the long run all together - it was 5 miles I figured I'd be OK. Week 2 was the start of the crazy heat wave. And while I could have done it on my parents' treadmill, I didn't. So Week 2's long run actually got done on Monday.

And Week 3? Well Saturday it was still crazy hot and humid and I spent most of the day running around after The Rugrats and taking them swimming (think of it as cross training). And Sunday? While it was finally cooler temperatures with no humidity there were some wicked winds to deal with. But I thought I'd just do it Monday, maybe head out to the trail after work. Well, I ended up working late and by the time I got done, I was HUNGRY! So I skipped it.

The long run for Week 3? It got done tonight. On a Tuesday. And even though it was perfect running weather, I had to do it indoors on the treadmill since I wasn't sure if I'd be done by the time it started getting dark. But the 7 miles are done. And that's what matters, right? So here's hoping I get in two shorter runs this week yet and then actually do Week 4's 8-mile long run on either Saturday or Sunday. Because as the runs get longer? I can't imagine doing them after work.

3 comments:

Marlene said...

Sometimes you just have to move things around. Good luck squeezing it in!

Jess said...

Flexibility is key. Plus if you're not dead set on setting a new PR, you can have a little more wiggle room in training. There's a big difference in being able to go the distance and being able to go the distance in a certain time.

teacherwoman said...

Yes, flexibility is key. :)