Monday, June 27, 2011

Without a schedule

Any second now, I think I'll break down. I'll pull out one of the training books I've relied on over the last five years and plot out my training program. I'm not sure what's stopping me from going real hyper frantic put-ever-run-in-the-calendar mode.

There was a time when I'd commmute home from my job, I remember poring over the week by week, looking at the whole of the schedule and thinking about the daunting tempo and pace runs. I'd run my hands over the columns, adding up the mileage and try to figure out how I'd fit in that 10 to 13 miles on a weekday.

Not lately, I've been so busy that I've had barely enough time to look 16 weeks down the calendar, let alone plot out the schedule. What I can rely on is the feel of a training program: do distance, go long on weekends, try to build endurance.

But something is missing. When you don't have that looming race, purpose tends to slip. I'm not worried in the long-term sense, I feel the need to run, and I don't necessarily need a schedule to keep me from committing to getting the proper miles in (I put in 42 miles last week).

I got an email from a buddy of mine who I did my first marathon with back in 2006. She was telling me about getting her mileage up this weekend. I wondered what kind of long mileage I should be at. I headed out for a 16 miler, not sure if that was quite what the program called for, but it felt like the right distance.

Right. Think I need to add some purpose. I'll schedule it in...

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