The New Plan

Today is a wonderful day in running land!

Tape, body glide, compression socks, stick, water, ready to go! Oh and rain boots that have been sitting under the coffee table since the last time it rained. Yes, I do live in Phoenix.

I returned to long running with Kara.

Pre run breakfast. Toast, pb, banana, iced coffee. You know, the same thing you see on every other running blog.

We had a fabulous 10 mile run. We also discovered that it’s apparently summer already here in P-H-X and we’re going to have to start running earlier. You know, by May our runs will start at 3am. We finished in 1:45:51 for an average pace of 10:35.

Long run times are tricky. I’m trying to get used to the whole easy pace thing, but my paces were all over the place. I used to just run as hard as I could keep up for the amount of miles I had scheduled, but now I have to actually figure out what different paces feel like in my body. It’s also hard to look at a 10:35 pace and think “Great job! Right on target.” But, I actually hooked myself up with a real legit training plan from Smart Coach. I put in my Lost Dutchman time, and the date of RnR Seattle (Laaaauuuuurrreeellll…it’s calling to us!!!) in the hopes that it will work out and I’ll be able to run it, chose the hardest plan (naturally) and got a really manageable looking plan with an end race of *gulp* 1:56. I’m modifying it a little bit. It has 4 running days per week, and I’m changing it to 3 because my body likes that better, and I’m gonna switch some of the days around, but otherwise, I’m really gonna try to stick to it.

Here’s your individualized training program:

Well, obviously I already failed at sticking to it this week, but I didn’t make it until the middle of the week…excuses, excuses. I ran too far and not at the correct pace today. Sorry Smart Coach. Just wait for next week when I amaze you with perfectly on target 1600s!

Easy run day will be Mondays with Jason, speed work/tempos will be Wednesdays, and spin will be Tues/Sunday. The rest will be whatever Saturdays will be whatever I want, and maybe sometimes I will strength train like I should 😉

I’m ridiculously excited about having a real live plan to follow with specific speedwork, pace goals, and accountability. In fact, I feel like it’s a little ridiculous that up until now I thought I was smart enough to create my own. To be fair, I didn’t really know about Smart Coach, and it is magical. All you have to do is go to Runner’s World, create an account, go to the Smart Coach and put in your info! Super easy and free. You all know I like free things 😉

Has anyone else used Smart Coach? Like training plans? Like to create your own?