Half Marathon – Week 3 – Wednesday-Flexibility is key!

Alright, so here is the deal. I messed up on my running yesterday. I was looking at the wrong week for my run for Tuesday. It was not a huge mistake, but one that really frustrated me because this week is already screwed up with the Bix 7 race. Being that I don’t really have the running knowledge to know how to adapt and change a program, this mess up really ticked me off. Here is what week is supposed to look like for running.

Monday – Rest
Tuesday – 5 miles easy at 10:30
Wednesday – Rest/XT
Thursday – 5 miles with 3 miles at HMP(Half Marathon Pace) of 9:09 per mile
Friday – 4 miles easy at 10:30
Saturday – Rest/XT
Sunday – 9 mile long easy run(easy, yeah right!)

So, yesterday I only ran 4 miles. This morning I sat down and decided to reconfigure my running because I want to be able to get in 23 miles, but will just have to do it differently because there is no way I am running on Sunday with the Bix race on Saturday. I plan on pushing myself on the race to see what I can achieve. Here is my revised plan.

Monday – rest/lift weights
Tuesday – run 4.2 miles as I did read plan correctly
Wednesday – run 7 miles to prep for Bix(see reflection below)
Thursday – run 4 easy miles
Friday – do nothing including no lifting
Saturday – Bix 7
Sunday – easy 1-2 miles to work out soreness or just skip completely

I am not sure if this is a smart tweak or not, but it seems to make sense in my mind. This morning I got and lifted. We performed an upper body circuit to keep legs fresh and used just body weight. Here is what we performed:

Dips leaning forward – 8-10
Chinups – to failure
Hanging Leg Raise – 8-10
Dips straight up – 8-10
Wide Grip Pullups – to failure
Hanging Knee Raise – 8-10

No rest in between and we performed this circuit 4 times. It was a good workout. It is one of those workouts that you will feel in about two days. I got home about 6:30, ate some breakfast, had a cup of coffee and went out for my run about 7:15. I decided to run 7 miles because for some reason I started to doubt myself about running the Bix 7 race this weekend. I know, yesterday I felt confident and good about myself and this morning it was complete opposite. I decided to push myself and prove to myself that I can run these 7 miles in a respectable amount of time. I took off on the same course as my long run Sunday so I could practice hills and all the good stuff. My iPod Nike+ app was acting up when I took off and that voice that chimes in my ear to tell me how I am doing was not working so I had no idea of my pace or time. In hindsight, I discovered that is very important to me as I did not have the self doubt talk going through my head. I finished the run and really surprised myself. I ran the 7 miles in 61 minutes and 7 seconds for a 8:42 pace. That is awesome for me. I felt good running(well as good as you can while running). I was really, really, fatigued the last 1/2 mile, but the rest of time I felt okay. This was an important run for me because it reinforced to my psyche that I can run this race and I am getting better. I don’t expect to run that fast Saturday, but I know that I can beat my previous run of 67 minutes.

Keep reaching for your goals and celebrate when you do. Remember the only person that can stop you is yourself. Toughness is in the soul and spirit, not in muscles. As I learned this week, sometimes we have to flexible as things don’t go as planned. It is up to you how you will respond. Choose the better route and make yourself better.

Aaron a.k.a. Coffechug

P.S. Keep song suggestions coming for my playlist. I will be adding some G. Love to the playlist