New year, new plan!

So I have known for the past year or so that my plan of having no plan regarding training was not working.  I had gotten myself into the bad habit of doing whatever I felt like when I woke up in the morning.  Well, I had loose training plans depending on what I was working towards (i.e. the Ironman...I knew I had to gradually build myself up to be able to complete the three events.) BUT as far as the day to day went, I didn't have any structure.  In December, I finally took a long, hard look at what I was doing, or quite frankly, what I wasn't doing.  Yes, I was exercising daily, but the bulk of my work was grinding on my spin bike.  It wasn't good for me...I felt exhausted and my legs felt trashed.  I needed to rest.  I needed quality days.  And I REALLY needed to start incorporating some recovery and easy days of running.  Looking back, this was what I struggled with all throughout 2015.  Too much grinding, no speed, no recovery.

As I started the new year (and after signing up for the LA Marathon in February), I knew that I desperately needed a new plan.  I talked to a couple of my WRN friends and reviewed some training plans.  I finally settled on Furman's First to the Finish plan because it only had three prescribed runs per week.  Yes, they were tough workouts, but I could fill in the rest of the days with whatever I wanted (within reason--no more death grinds on that bike!). 

A link to the plan can be found here.

So far, I have followed this thing to a T other than starting with a 10 mile long run instead of the prescribed 13.  I have done all of the speedwork and gotten myself up to a 20 mile long run.  I didn't have much time to get ready for LA, but I used the time that I did have the best I could.  I actually haven't minded any of it!  I am feeling really good and feel confident that I could have a decent 2016.  LA is not my end goal, but more of a stepping stone as far as the marathon (and fitness in general) is concerned.  After LA, I am signed up for the Bryan Health Indoor Triathlon with my husband and sissy...it has become a yearly tradition for us to compete in this wonderful event together!

The bulk of my training gets done at 4:30am as I need to be out the door before 7am in order to make it to work on time. (After work is out as I don't want to waste the little time with my boys.)  My alarm usually goes off at 4:11am, and I immediately get out of bed...if I give myself even two minutes to think about how amazing my warm bed feels and how tired I am, my running isn't going to happen. I have my running clothes set out and a cup of coffee ready to slug down. (This is usually old coffee...sometimes I warm it up, sometimes I don't bother.) The key to early morning workouts is not really giving yourself time to talk yourself out of it.  If I am doing speed work, a slow two mile warm up is key.  There is absolutely no way I could go from zero to sixty without a warm-up.  Yikes. 

This is not without its sacrifices.  One of my favorite parts of the day is relaxing with Philip after the boys go to bed by watching an episode of a favorite show on Netflix.  On this early schedule, I don't usually make it much past 8pm.  (Thank goodness that the plot of practically every episode of Prison Break is the same!) At times, it can feel like every waking moment is completely filled with jobs and tasks.  That being said, I am doing an okay job of balancing it all.

As we have now entered the second month of 2016, I hope that you have begun training and it is going well! Happy running!