Back into training

My training program dictates that this is the week I begin my official running training once again. As it is a three key run per week training program, I had to begin yesterday (Tuesday) with my workouts because Monday was dedicated to the GJCC triathlon. I am already finding it difficult to squeeze a minimum amount of training into my already full days. (I work two jobs from 4:00am to 4:00pm and absolutely can't function on less than 7 hours of sleep, leaving me with five hours a day to divide between home and family, church and community, and training.) Sundays are dedicated entirely to family and church, so there's no training on those days, which leaves Saturdays to fill with the rest. So, my long runs and rides fall on Saturdays. Of course, that only takes care of 1/3 of my workouts each week, so I have to steal time on Tuesdays and Thursdays for running workouts and MWF for swim/bike workouts. I do try and knock out a bike workout each morning and ride to work (14 miles round trip,) but even that's sporadic right now. I'm not complaining, just trying to figure out where to find the "extra" time.

But perhaps it's better to look at what I have been able to accomplish.

Yesterday marked the first interval training workout I have done since early December. I distinctly remember freezing my backside off at the track on December 6 and rejoicing that I was completing the last of my interval workouts for the Kiawah Island Marathon. I swore to myself that I would not go back out on that track until spring, when I could run and actually feel my extremities. Here I am now, more than six months later, finally getting back to the track. I left work yesterday at 4pm and headed over to the track. Mercifully, the clouds had moved into the area and the 89 degree temperature from 3pm had given way to a much nicer 80-82 degrees, with a mild breeze. The rain even remained at bay until I was running the last repeat. All the same, I wasn't looking forward to running 10 X 400m intervals @ 1:27, with a 400m rest in between. When I wrote up my plan, I scaled back my time requirements thinking that after six months, I would have a tough time getting back into running for VO2max. I was half right. I fought the gremlin in my head from about the second interval to the sixth. He was trying to get me to cheat out of the last few intervals. I ignored him and his complaints and got down to running. I averaged a 1:21 pace for all ten of the repeats, so for as much psychological complaining I experienced during the workout, my body still responds well to the high intensity runs. (When I finished my Kiawah plan, I was running the 400m repeats in about 1:14.) I have plenty of room to improve, but the road back may not be as difficult as I originally thought. I actually experienced a few minutes yesterday (after the sixth repeat or so) when I remembered that I once ENJOYED running repeats.

All in all, yesterday's workout was challenging both physically and mentally, but rewarding through and through. Fortunately for me, there are at least two people who have read my blog and thanks to you guys, I feel accountable enough to actually get out there and run. That's what the blog is for, so thanks for being here.