Derailed

The last blog post was in mid June. I had grand plans for recovering from the marathon I had ran the beginning of the month and press on to bigger and better things. That didn't happen. I have many reasons for the lack of running and blogging but mostly "life" just got in the way and I needed to take a break. Not that many people even read this blog but I often use it as a way to keep motivated and see what I have been doing and where I am heading. That brings up the main reason for me falling off the training path. I didn't, and really don't, have a goal race for the fall. I usually do. My main race fell through ( I was going to run the TC 10 Mile but didn't get in) so I now don't really have a plan. Even before I knew I didn't get into the 10 miler I was way off in left field. I mean, I need a goal to get out of bed in the morning and not having one most of July showed when I look back at the month. I would love to say I am motivated to get out of bed and crush some major training days but I guess the next week or two will tell. I'm trying to take a laid back approach to this fall but sometimes that doesn't work either.

Other than no goal our house was one that took on some serious water during the Great Flood of 2012. I was heading to the basement that morning to head out for a run and take some pictures as I knew the rivers would be rushing greatly. As I placed my foot on the landing of the basement stairs I felt and heard a big SPLUSH! I ran up the stairs and turned on the lights and damn if our basement wasn't flooded! SHOOOT! I had to call off the run and tend to some more serious manners. Indeed the whole city had to that day, and that took some major gusto out of my mental mojo so that is reason number two I haven't been training much. Many back breaking hours were spent hauling all the shit out of our basement and that took a toll on my back. Things are slowly getting repaired and soon we will be back on our feet and have a complete house once again. ***For the record, we didn't have it as bad as many residents of Duluth and surrounding areas and I feel very fortunate for that. We still have a place we can call home and live in. Many don't!***

So I sit here on a day I have off of work and plan great things. My legs and body are ready to make a run for some great performance but what that will be still remains to be a mystery. There are many local events to take part in and I have to pick one as my goal race. My main goal is to enter the late fall/early winter healthy and very fit. Whatever weather we get for the winter I plan to tackle the elements and push for great fitness for April. I'm not 100% yet but I may be making my first trip out to Boson Marathon. We will see.

In summary, since June 14th, I have been running 5-6 days per week at 45 minutes per day and long runs of 90 minutes on the weekend. I ran Park Point 5 miler and label it as the "Worst running experience of my adult life". Seriously. I don't know what went on that night, but I don't want to experience that again any time soon. Other than that debacle, I do feel fairly fit. I need to increase my overall volume and work on some longer threshold intervals. Mixing in some easy speed sessions will help and soon I hope to be running strong again.

This week I have taken Monday and Wednesday off, but ran 55:00 both Tuesday and Thursday. I added 7 X 30 second hills yesterday just to mix it up. If I can push through the weekend with some good running maybe that will be my jump start to the next level of training. (fingers crossed...)


Years Total to date: 1150.6 miles