Starting in March I’ll be back on an official training plan and I’m actually excited about it. I don’t know what it is about printing out a training schedule that makes me go run but I just don’t do well without one. Maybe it’s the fact that there’s a race at the end of the training schedule, maybe there’s something about having an official training plan or maybe I’m just lazy during the off-season. I suspect it’s the latter.On Monday I’ll start training for the Bolder Boulder 10K using the 12 week plan put together by FIRST. Right now the plan is sitting beside me on my desk, calling out to me, ready to kick my butt into gear and then just kick my butt. Right now the training plan (which was printed on our color printer at work. . . shhhh) is unblemished. There are no notations of runs shortened or intervals changed, there are no arrows indicating I moved workouts around to accommodate my occasional bouts of laziness or apathy, but there are also no checkmarks on the plan either. I hope to add a checkmark on Monday (or maybe Tuesday if Monday’s no good for me) but make no mistake, racing season is here again and my enthusiasm and hopefulness have yet to be squashed by an oppressive tempo run.
It may seem weird to some of you that a 10K is my most important race of the year but that’s OK because some of you seem weird to me, I mean, what’s with those shoes? The Bolder Boulder 10K was the first race I ever ran back in May 2005, and every year I use it as a gage to see how I have progressed as a runner over the past year. The least amount of time that I’ve shaved from one year to the next is 2 minutes 53 seconds. If I could shave that much off last year’s PR of 52:07 then I would finally be under 50 minutes. If that happens I’ll be ecstatic! A finishing time of 49:xx would be a bigger accomplishment than finishing my first marathon earlier this year, that’s how bad I want this.
Serious training is about to begin. As for the rest of this week? Meh, maybe I’ll try and squeeze in a few miles between watching TV and eating.
I think a sub 50-10k is in the future :-) As long as you keep your RazzDoodle in your pants and all (best commentary ever! HAHA. Sorry Razz!)
ReplyDeleteCome work at my work. You wouldn't feel the least bit bad about using the color printer if you saw that crazy amounts of kid pictures and Rachel Ray recipes that roll off our printer.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, a training plan for 10k.
ReplyDeleteMe, I just print training plans. In no way do I actually stick to them. Or even read them prior to a run. I usually look at the paper after a 17 miler and find out it was supposed to be an easy 10 or 12.
Actually, I get it. I will miss my first race back to running the St. Malachi's 2 miler. It pains me. Heres to your 8 minute mile.
Good luck with the plan! I also find it much easier to stay motivated when working from a training plan. I'll be using the FIRST program to train for my first (hahaha) marathon later this year, and I'll look forward to your progress and eventual sub 50-minute PR on this program.
ReplyDeletePeople who think hardcore goal race training for a 10k is weird are wrong. It's the most odious, challenging distance I've ever raced. I'd sooner train for an ultra. I wish you luck.
ReplyDeleteBe sure to augment your training plan with a disciplined stretching plan. There is an older version of Vanilla in your future and you will be glad you did.
ReplyDeleteAnd don't listen to the Marcy girl. This is America and you can do whatever you want with your razzdoodle.
but that’s OK because some of you seem weird to me
ReplyDeleteTell the truth ... you were thinking of me when you wrote that line, weren't you? Come on! It's okay ... as long as you weren't ... touching yourself at the time.
Marathon jump 'n' kick: gayish, NOT girly. Got it.
Man, Vanilla ran a f*cking marathon! How come I don't see that mentioned anywhere on THIS blog? You'd be NOWHERE without him, you ungrateful bustard!
That's right! I called you a large terrestrial bird mainly associated with dry open country and steppes in the Old World! Deal with it!
Love the Bolder Boulder. Especially the massive sweat barn where you pick up food and such at the end. Good luck!
ReplyDeletefan-f***in-tastic
ReplyDeleteI can hear you getting rusty al the way from here. Time to oil up the RazZDoodle and get cranking. Wait...what is a razzdoodle again?
ReplyDeletesub-50 is ambitious (at least by my standards...i'm hoping for a sub-60 for me!)
ReplyDeletegood luck!
I can't wait for you to break 50 minutes in the 10-K. That means I will soon do the same when I beat your PR.
ReplyDeleteYou are SO breaking 50 minutes. That FIRST training program is hard core, but it gets results.
ReplyDeletea training plan lets people know you are hard core. i pulled my diploma out of its frame in my office and put my training plan in it. instant respect.
ReplyDeleteFIRST made me cry a lot. And want to sleep a lot. Just so you know. I'm probably not as hardcore as you though.
ReplyDeleteI'm in the end stages of the FIRST half marathon training program, and it is both very challenging and very rewarding.
ReplyDeleteThe half program is inexplicably 18 weeks long, but after 5 weeks of it I ran a 5 mile race and set a PR at that distance by 25 seconds. There's no reason why you can't meet your 10K goal using it, unless you get drunk and lazy and all that. Good luck!
I need a training plan, otherwise I kinda just flounder about. Maybe it's just that I've gotten so used to training that I don't know how to do "not training."
ReplyDeleteYou will break 50. I would suggest not drinking from any aid stations on the way - just put on your music get in your groove and go. There's plenty of time after for proper hydration.
ReplyDeleteI did this race in 04. It was a nice event, Boulder is such a cool town.