Half-Assed Runner

Runs: 11
Miles: 75.35
Races: 0 (0.00 miles)
Outdoors: 1 (9.10 miles)
Indoors: 4 (16.05 miles)
Treadmill: 6 (27.59 miles)
Longest: 9.10 miles

My mileage did pick up in December after an epic dropoff in November.  I only managed to do one run outside (taking advantage of an unseasonably warm and snow-free day early in the month).  The other 10 runs were all indoors.

I did score a big win by purchasing a treadmill at the end of the month.  I don’t like running outside in the winter.  I found out last year that the temperature is not a big deal, but I live in a rural area and the trails and sidewalks are not cleared.  I have a gym membership with a (tiny) indoor track and tons of nice treadmills, but it’s a 20 minute drive away.  There is a gym in town (and we used to have a membership there) and I was going to get a winter membership there, but decided to get a treadmill instead.  I hit up Craigslist and found a ton of great used treadmills.  I fucking hate Craigslist.  The seller response rate blows.  Those sellers that do respond generally take days to do so.  My wife suggested looking at Sears Outlet stores and I found a new NordicTrack T5.7 for $400 (it was a floor model…but had less than 2 miles on it).  I’m very happy with it.  Now I have no excuse not to run.

I chose drinking over running this year.  I was planning on doing the Polar Dash again this year.  I kept vacilating between running the 10K or the half marathon.  I felt I wasn’t ready for a half at this point and I wasn’t keen on dropping $60 on a 10K so I decided to skip it this year.  I’m glad that I scratched this race because the temperature was -5 with a wicked wind.

I have no races scheduled for January or February.    I did sign up for a bunch of races as a number of races offered discounts.  I took the leap and signed up for marathon #2: Grandmas Marathon in June.  I ran the half last year and had a great time, so I’m hoping for the same enjoyment at twice the distance.

I am going to faithfully follow a marathon training plan this time.  I decided on the free one listed on the Grandmas website.  It’s an 18 week plan by Dick Beardsley.  This plan requires that you run 6 days a week.  I trained running 4 days a week this year (3 days a week last year) so this is going to be a step up in training.  The plan starts in mid-February, but I’m going to spend the next weeks increasing the number of runs per week so I’m ready to run 6 days a week when the plan begins.  Luckily, most of the runs are “easy” runs.  The treadmill will be a great asset as I can run anytime and can fix my pace.  I am not fast, but I tend to run at “tempo” pace on all runs other than my long runs.  As strange as it sounds, I need to slow down.  My easy runs should be 1.5 to 2 minutes per mile slower than my race goal pace.  I haven’t dialed in a race goal pace yet, but it’s going to be 10 minutes per mile or more.  It’s actually difficult (especially on shorter distances) for me to slow down to 11 minute miles.  The treadmill will help our a ton in this area.