Slow & Steady...

This week and the last couple of weeks have not been all that great. There have been a few stressful things that have taken my attention away from running and the running that I did do just didn't feel good. Today was different though, I finally made peace with the fact that I have been so waaay off my training plan, that I just need to restart from a point that I feel comfortable with and then just move forward from there. So, with that decision made and out in the open, today's run was probably the best run I've had in a long time. The BEST! We ran what I call the Fred Meyer loop, from our house - going down 139th/134th Street and cutting thru at the library and then thru a couple of neighborhoods to get back on 149th Street. It took a lot for me to keep going, I had the urge to stop and walk (there's no shame in walking), but I knew that I could run so I kept running. It's always a good feeling to finish a run knowing that I did the best that I could do and I finished strong. So yeah, today's run was the BEST...INDEED!

Tom and I are planning to run the 8K Shamrock run on March 14, so I'm pretty confident that we'll make that distance, not quite 5 miles, so that's a good thing. Still need to build up endurance though for the Spring Classic Duathlon. It's time to start paying attention to some strength training or at the very least going back to doing the one hundred push-ups challenge that I started late last summer. That's doable because I can do that in the comfort of my own home instead of touching equipment that has been touched my numerous other germ infested people LOL! Also, even after a couple of weeks of doing push-ups I could tell the difference during my runs and while riding...amazing! The experts know what they are talking about when they say that core strengthening is important. Interesting...

Will be trying to throw in a spin class here and there also. My lunch rides have not been happening due to the crummy weather and I'm not in the mood to put the fenders on my bike just yet. If I can get away with not slapping them on then all will be good. This upcoming week is looking promising so I might have to schlep my bike to the station tomorrow sometime - YAY!

I'm pretty excited though, running has come much easier this year than last year so things can only get better if I stay consistent. My goal at this point is to finish this training plan and then go and get a plan for maintenance purposes so that I don't end up losing all my running condition even during cycling season - dreaming big again!

So, overall, even with the loss of motivation since Christmas I've decided that slow and steady is the way to go. I'm feeling much better about my running plan for the moment.

Run-Baby-Run!