The BIG NEW distance

I know you all know I've been struggling in more than one way these past few months. I am pleased to report that I finally had a GREAT run on Saturday, which I tried to run with my friend & her training team.

I know, I said "trying" to run with my friend's intermediate training team, but what I ended up doing was running alone with a group. Because my runs are so weird. I run for a few minutes, stop and stretch. Then I run for a few minutes, and do a few minutes of planks. And no matter what I'm doing, I have to find a good pace that works for me. Some days, that's a slow 11 minute mile. Some days, that's a 9:40's mile, but no matter what I think when I wake up, the ultimate truth is that I don't know what kind of day it is until I start to run. My hip flexors set my pace, and that's all there is to it.

On Saturday I ran a comfortable pace and finished my 5 miles with a smile. So, since it was a great feeling and my friend TMB showed up to run with R's beginner training team, I hopped in to run another "mile or so, whatever feels good". I ended up doing another .75. I nearly hit 6 PAIN FREE miles, and I know I could have easily reached and surpassed it. This coming weekend I look forward to a long run of 6 whole pain free miles. YEAH!

BUT, the 10K that I was using to motivate me will be here in two weeks. So, what should I do next? I thought about training up to half marathon distance, but ultimately I decided to really listen to myself on "what I want this spring".

I think what would please me most is to regain my speed. On that note, I am going to do something I have never really done before: Train for a 5K.

I'm going to train a 6 week training plan, starting today, that's going to get me to a 5K at a race pace that I like (around an 8min/mi). I will have 3 quality runs per week: 1 tempo, 1 interval, 1 long; and 3 cross training days. I will lift on 2 days & swim on 2 days (1 short swim is a double day). And, if I'm lucky, I will even get a bike ride with Pink on a day in there too. The idea is that no matter what I'm doing, I'm not doing TOO much of anything.