Putting Your Past Behind you

Today was the second time that I've run a midweek long run on phase two of my training plan. This is really where the fun starts in the program. From previous training cycles, the mid week run was kind of my nemesis. When I did them, I ran well and benefited greatly, but I ALWAYS had problems with gettin' my mind right, and most of the time ended up skipping it. The biggest problem was that life got in the way. Doing a longer run meant getting up earlier, because life as a small biz owner meant getting to the bank in time to make that days deposit. And what usually happened was that I wouldn't get up in time, and ended up not running at. Well, those times are behind me.....or as Timon from Lion King said...No, no no. Amateur. Sit down before you hurt yourself. It's "You got to put your past behind you." Which is EXACLTY what I'm doing. I'm doing it so fast, it's having a hard time keeping up!

Today was one of those it's going to be cold mornings. When I woke up and turnedon teh weather channel, that cold I felt inthe house, was even worse outside. It was 41 degrees, and DROPPING! So I decided i should layer up. And GOOD THING I DID.....Cuz I was really cold for most of the run. Never really got the chance to warm up much.....Not even in my hour and 21 minutes on the run. It was cold....And there seemed to be a pretty good wind on occasion out there. I decided that even though it was drak outside, I would wear my iPod and jam out to tunes. Normally I wouldn't do that, but my ears needed covering. I'm glad I did. My darned lips felt frozen! My run started out slow. I like to take it easy for about the first mile. Just get everything moving in the right direction and wake up right. My pace startedout at a 9:11 for the first mile, and from there I eventually brought it down to a very respectable 8:15 for the last mile and a half. Don' tknow if it was because i was cold and just wanted to get over with it....But in any case it felt very smooth and rhythmic, and nver once was my breathing ever labored. So, two weeks in a row, I've managed to get the 2nd most important run of the week in. The most important being that Long Run on Sunday....I think what makes it important, it really gets your running into overdrive. Right now I'm sitting on that edge of breaking 50 miles per week. I can FEEL it, and I can taste it. That will be my next short term goal. From there, I don't really want to increase my mileage a whole lot, I want to keep that 50 miles per week base going strong, and when my body tells me it's time and I'm strong enough to step it up....I'll take that next step. I think part of the reason I got sick a few weeks ago is becasue I wore myself out by getting to 40 too quickly. Right now my body is settling into 45 miles per week, and I think the perfect time to go after the big 5-OH may be during the 2 weeks I have off from work, where I can be assured to get the extra sleep, and have the extra time to really crunch out mile after mile. That's not far away, as I only have 7 more days of work after today. It will be here before I know it.

I know the progress will come, and I've seen remarkable progress so far. I'm running better then I was when I was in my early 20s.....Heck, I may even make an effort to head back to my 20 year high school reunion in July and when people ask me what I've been doing I can tell them....ahhh...not much, just qualifying to run the Boston Marathon. :) I really wish I had been more of a runner when I was in High School and college. Remember.....You've got to put your past behind ya! But don't forget those mistakes you made along the way. Learn and grow from them.

Tomorrows workout is the standard 12x400 with wamrups and cool downs. I'm going to do a longer then normal cool down. I'll have the extra time. I may even get out early and jog to the start instead of driving. :) Until tomorrow, TRAIN HARD and LIVESTRONG!