I passed the half-way point for my 500 miles in 2018 goal! Yes, I know June is halfway through the year and not August, but that’s ok because I’m starting to put in 20 mile weeks for half marathon training and it’s really helping me make progress.
500 miles in a year is about 10 miles per week. I completed a lot of 5 mile weeks this Spring when I was swimming and biking and getting ready for the Sebago Lake Triathlon instead of focusing on running, so I entered the Summer fairly behind on my goal.
While I miss the biking especially, I’ve enjoyed dedicating my scheduled workout time to focusing on running.
My half marathon training is going great.
Greg continues to put my training workouts together for me inspired by Jack Daniels Running Formula and how I did the previous week. I transfer the workouts he puts into Garmin (which includes the pace goals, mileage, interval lengths and everything) and then I just hit go.
I’ve been telling myself that it doesn’t matter if I fail to complete any one of these workouts, and it doesn’t even really matter how I do, all I’ve promised Greg is that I’ll make every effort to complete the prescribed workouts. But I’m actually meeting them. Not without struggling and occasionally sprinting towards the end of a mile repeat or tempo run to get my average pace within goal range, but I’m meeting targets.
And now that I’m over a month into completing the workouts he creates for me, I’m less scared of a failed workout attempt, because it’ll be viewed by both of us as an outlier.
Scheduling time to run has been critical for my consistency this Summer
One of the best things I did this Spring was look at my summer calendar and figure out which mornings I would need a babysitter in order to go for a run. I then found a babysitter and hired her for exactly the days I needed, months in advance. I didn’t include weeks the kids were at sailing camp in the mornings or the days we’d be camping in Acadia National Park.
It felt like a crazy and random request to find a babysitter who would be willing to commit to coming 2 hours at a time, 8-10 a.m., 3 days a week, for five non-consecutive weeks out of the summer. BUT I FOUND SOMEONE. I found a teacher who wanted to supplement her summer with a small amount of regular babysitting, who thought these hours would be perfect.
Can you believe it?
I couldn’t really believe it. I kind of felt like I was asking for the moon and now I’m just glad I asked.
But I found her, she’s wonderful, and it’s gotten me out the door for my runs week after week.
Now I’m looking at the first week the kids have school and strategizing for how I’ll shift runs so I can be fully present for their first day (and, honestly, the giant coffee social I’m throwing directly after drop off). Thinking about my running schedule based on other things on the calendar in advance helps me see potential conflicts and plan for them.
View from this morning’s run: I got five bug bites but it was beautiful!
