It's On..

..sort of.. So I took a look back at the last post there.. Not only was it jam packed with type-o's, it gave me a quick flash back to how much can change in just one little month! Anyway, I've made some decisions...sort of.. and am following a 'plan'...more or less.. My original idea, if you'll recall, was to wing it and do the gradual long run mile increase with the first of the month 3mi test run.. Well, I still am keeping that plan in mind, but it occured to me that just upping my long run distance and keeping it high for months and months might not be all that great. SO. Enter good ol Hal Higdon. He's an old pal of mine.. I used his plan back when I did my first half and full marathons.. so I figured I'd see what he thought about the whole training thing and I liked what he was throwing down. I've had a coach for training in the past and I definitely don't think I'm 'above' needing a coach.. Quite the opposite, actually.. I shall return to my trusty coach.. once I have a new goal to strive for. Right now, though, I'm just trying to get back a good, solid base and THEN I'll see where I'm at and what kinds of crazy plans I can make for myself.. For this season, though.. I still want to work on and improve my running.. which I suppose could be 'coach worthy'.. but I think maybe I don't want the extra pressure.. So a free plan from the world wide interwebs fits the bill. And just what, you ask, are these big plans you have?? Well, I've decided my first half marathon will be the Sam Costa Half Marathon, which is a small, local race that a friend of mine has tried to get me to run for years.. The timing was right, so I guess I'll finally see what all the fuss is about! So my plan for that started this week..which I didn't actually know until last night (saturday)..but it turns out I was pretty on track, so we're good! My weekly plan will look a little something like: Monday: short warm-up run and CrossFit Tuesday: swim and spin Wednesday: (will be kind of a doozy..so may need to adjust..) speed/hill run and CrossFit Thursday: short run and CrossFit Friday: EZ swim Saturday: pace run and CrossFit (it's a skills and 'active recovery' day) Sunday: LSD run or at least that's my plan for now. You may notice the lack of a full day of rest.. which I know is important.. but until I go back to 2-a-days..which I'm hoping to start that at some point soon when I start back teaching gymnastics.. But we'll see. I'm definitely aware of the problem. For now, though, I see friday 'EZ swim day' as rest.. I know.. This week followed that fairly well. There was a holiday in there, so a little different. But mostly we were on task. As for those 'changes' alluded to in the start of this entry? Well, today was my 3mi test run and I improved by 2 minutes again?! I really didn't think, after the last one and how much it hurt.. I didn't expect to go faster.. and my time keeping skills were 'unofficial' at best.. but I did my 3 miles, after a 1mi warm-up, in 22:18! Still not setting any land/speed records or anything, but I'm happy with the improvement. It still hurt, but I think it felt a little less like death than the last time..though if you judged it by my 1mi trudge home, you might beg to differ. So there's that. I topped my LSD runs last sunday with a lovely 9mi treadmill run. That was kinda tough. I need to get my treadmill calibrated, or something.. because the paces are definitely off.. But it was too cold and icy last week and I just didn't feel like spending 9mi looking for clear roads to run on.. so basement 'mill it was. It wasn't that bad.. but I definitely prefer the fresh air. I've come to realize I really look forward to and enjoy those sunday runs, so I must be doing something right as far as balancing how much running I'm doing. I actually enjoy all of my workouts right now, which is a really good thing...and is also why I can't seem to cut anything out to give myself a rest day.. I've started using actual workouts for swimming again..so I have that going for me. Nothing too crazy, but getting back in to the idea of having a plan when I hit the pool.. trying to work on some speed, watching the clock and such.. Hadn't done that in a long time! I toyed with the idea of going to do a modified version of 100 x 100 with Indy Aquatic masters on New Yrs day.. I would have done 75's because they were going on the 1:40, which I would not have been able to make.. and I was just going to do as many as I could.. So I did kind of a trial run on my own and did: 6 x 75 swim, 6 x 75 pull, 6 x 75 kick, 6 x 75 swim with fins, 6 x 75 pull with paddles, 6 x 75 back kick.. I think.. it was something like that.. darn it. I'd like to gradually add on to that, so next time I have a little more time to spend in the pool, I'll do 8 of each of those 75's.. then 10.. and so on.. (I stuck with the 1:40 interval). I also have enjoyed doing workouts with a lot of 'other' stroke work.. back, breast, and I even include a lil fly in there from time to time.. Stop laughing at me, lifeguards.. stand down.. I am not drowning, can't you see I'm a beautiful butterfly in here??!! Spin kind of is what it is right now. I'd say the bike is going to be the thing that takes a bit of a back seat this winter/right now. I kind of bounce around between my trainer, doing my own spin sessions on a spin bike at the Y, doing the ol' programs on an exercise bike, or going to spin class.. But until it warms up, I just have to try to keep myself entertained on the indoor cycle options.. CrossFit is coming along. I've been feeling like I'm making some improvements there and have decided to really focus on strength and olympic lifts and skills that I need. There is the 'Open' games stuff coming up in Feb or March, so I figure we'll see how things go with that and if I/our team makes regionals again, maybe I'll dabble in some crossfit competitions.. So we'll see what happens there. I did a couple of max effort olympic lift things this past saturday.. so as of now, my max for Power Snatch is 90# and max for Clean and Jerk is 125#..Plenty of room for improvement there, but a good start and definitely working on form. So that's that! Only thing left for me to figure out for this season is what to do as far as triathlons.. I had said earlier that I would just do some sprints and kind of lay low on the tri's this summer.. but I just can't seem to get excited about the short stuff! I don't know what it is.. maybe I'm actually just scared to try to push that hard in the short races.. I don't know.. Plus, if I'm focusing on running half and full marathons.. it just seems to make more sense to me to do a half IM or two.. No? Anybody else follow that logic? I'm tinkering with some ideas still, but I'd really like to do the KS 70.3, which would be 1 week after another half marathon that I plan to do..which is also in KC.. which would mean a week long stay with the folks! It's a plan I've had for a while now..to do the two races, stay with my parents, get a little extra visit time with them AND get to do two races.. everyone wins, right?! Then I'm still figuring out whether I'd do a second half IM or not.. Gotta make some decisions soon, though.. I already missed the first price increases and the next increases are looming.. So those are my loose plans for racing and my first part of training has begun! In other news.. The boys are great. Mason had a wonderful Christmas and is already planning out the return of his 'elf on the shelf' and what he will ask Santa for next year. Miles is.. still growing! He has rolled from tummy to back a couple times, though I'm not sure I'm ready to declare it as an official skill...mighta been a bit of a fluke, but I know it's all coming! He's had some teething pain lately, which has made lying on his back no fun for him.. good thing he's comfy in his car seat, though, so he's been sleeping there for a few days. Most of the time, though, he's a chill, smiley, fun guy that's getting interested in toys and LOVES to smile at his big brother! Mason loves it, too. He'll ask if he can go in to Miles' room when he's waking up from a nap so he can make him smile.. Very sweet. I think that's about it for now. Hopefully I'll make some more decisions and put some money where my mouth is! Race Plan for this season to be continued..but it's in the works and coming along!