Spring Eternal - Up Next?
With Harrisburg clearly behind me in the rear view mirror I’ve given 2013 a lot of thought this past week. The last two spring seasons the marathon has not been kind to me with a PW in both of them. Humbling experience for any runner no matter the distance for sure. That said taking a step back away from the marathon felt like the right thing to do this spring and work on shorter distances.
I really think I have a lot to gain yet in that department especially in the aerobic development departmant in my running fitness and will ultimately help me in the marathon when I get back to it next fall. Decided on working with Daniels 5k-15k plan from his Running Formula book. A definite staple in your running library chock full of good info if you never have read. Phase I of the plan really works well with my marathon recovery the first 6 weeks of just easy running, before the heavy quality stuff in Phase II. I think when all is said and done it will take my fitness up a notch as I train for 2 half marathons this spring with the Chambersburg Half Marathon in March and the Frederick Half Marathon later in the spring in May. Leading up to Chambersburg in March I plan to run a few races from a local winter series (5k/5m/15k) which will gauge my progress as I go. Chambersburg has always been a favorite race of mine considering it was my first race I ever competed in when I first started running almost three years ago. Just a fantastic run event overall IMHO. Frederick on the other hand has always been one that has been on my radar, but never really matched up with my schedule for whatever the reason.
My hope is to get my half marathon PR paired down (sub1:36) inline with where I want my marathon times to be this year. That being a sub3:30 with a eventual 3:15 to punch my ticket to Boston in my current 40-44 AG. That window of opportunity starting to close though, but that’s getting way ahead of the process here. Good to have a final destination clarified for my running journey, but still lot of steps to take on this journey as last week clearly showed me. Excited to get this plan started to see where this will take me this spring and ultimately beyond that later in the year for 2013.
