The Plan

I just got back from my weekly tempo run where I run "uncomfortably fast" and then look gratefully to having 7 days till I have to do it again. You know it's rough when every week I finish and think all I have left this week is a 14 or 16 or 20 mile run to do, no problem. I would honestly rather hit one of those long runs anyway over speed work. The tempo runs and hills are new to my training and it has kept it interesting.

What's a bit of a surprise is that they are working! Hills have not been as tough the last couple weeks, even with the increase to 8x up my favorite incline. The tempo runs have also seemingly been working too. Every week for the las 5 I have set a new PR on my 5K time. Today, I hit a new PR for my mile too. While I was winded and not as happy as I felt when I was just walking the dogs an hour before, I didn't want to die as I has last time I broke my mile PR.

What I love about the marathon is that it is too long to cheat, either in training or the race. You put in months of training and you survive and thrive in a 26.2 mile run. It is that simple. Follow the plan and take care of yourself (which is part of the plan) and the results are almost guaranteed. As a perpetual skeptic, I love watching that unfold every time. Logically there is no was a guy that smoked two packs a day and never ran a step till he was 33 should be able to run marathons, but the training works. I am again impressed that though there never was a "maybe" involved in improving with hills, speed, and higher milage it is again seemingly working.

I consider myself a relatively smart guy, but am humbled how often and in so many ways I need the reminder to just follow directions.