Week 1, Or Back in the Saddle Again

Early last week, I decided it was about time to put together a training schedule for the Lakefront 10 (which takes place at the end of April). There was no rhyme or reason to the decision that last week should mark week 1 except that I started training for that race last year at about this same time. And really, my running is kind of lazy and stagnant without a training plan. I've *only* been logging about 12 to 15 miles a week--a mileage I'd have been proud of last year at this time but which is certainly not enough of a base now to meet some of this year's running goals.

In any case, I used the Smart Coach program over at Runner's World to develop the training plan for the Lakefront race. The program takes a time from a recent race and your current mileage and uses that to determine what your weekly mileage should be during the training weeks and also the target pace for each run.

It's definitely going to be a different experience this time around. I know I can cover the distance. I feel pretty confident that I could go out this minute and run 10 miles (but the pace at which I would do so might not be particularly stellar). Consequently, this year's training schedule is much different than the one I followed last year. For instance, this one starts with a long run of seven miles, whereas last year's first "long" run was four miles (which just about killed me). This year's schedule also has me training to a distance of 12 miles, whereas last year's longest training distance was 9 miles.

So here is what was planned for last week along with what I actually did:

Planned
2 miles @ 11:29 (so much seems silly to me about this distance and this pace)
5 miles, with 3 of those miles at 9:51
2 miles @ 11:29
7 miles @ 11:29
Total: 16

Did
3 miles @ 10
4 miles (most of them at about 9:50)
2.5 miles (speed intervals)
7 miles (between 10 and 11)
Total: 16.5

This week's schedule is the same as last week.

I may have talked my dad into running the Lakefront 10 with me and also into trying some 5Ks. He is fast, running in the sub-8s for his shorter runs. Once I looked up the best times in his age group for a recent 5K and realized he'd be a contender for an age group award (he'd have taken first in the race I looked up), his interest was definitely peaked. And yes, I know it's pathetic that my 60-year-old dad can run a seven-minute mile while I'm more like a nine-minute-mile right now. The mediocrity of my running times is not lost on me! But you know what they say: No matter how slow you are, you are still faster than someone sitting on the couch. Which.... No, that's not really much of a comfort! Especially not when I'm running along the Lakefront path and have zillions of people zooming by me (though I guess on a day when temps are in the low teens, most of the runners out on the Lakefront path are probably pretty hard-core, which might translate into FAST).

I guess we'll just have to wait and see what this year of running brings....