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| All I ate on Sunday: tea, crackers, and two slices of avocado |
New Year's Eve night I made a fancy dinner including a recipe for whole roasted cauliflower with whipped goat cheese, a star dish at chef Alon Shaya's restaurant Domenica (Shaya was made famous when his Israeli restaurant Shaya made Esquire's 50 best restaurants list). I found the copycat recipe online, and let me just tell you...I will not be eating cauliflower again for a very long time. If ever.
Anyway. No doubt I picked up this terrible bug at work, and it's the worst I've had in forever - totally weak, high fever, lots of stomach pain, couldn't tolerate food for days. Still can't, really! But it gave me some time to think about running for this year.
Here are my running hopes and plans for 2016:
1. Run more races. I am very much out of racing habit and shape. I'd like to run more races this year, if but for the practice.
2. Keep the same basic shoe. I don't like the Kinvara bazillion as much as I liked the Kinvara I, but it's good enough, and changing shoes is usually a bad idea for me. I often get hurt right after changing shoes.
3. Finish a marathon. Yes, I said "finish". Right now I am looking at RnR New Orleans in February, and I would like a BQ time, but recent runs and workouts have not promised anything: marathons are tough, I historically do poorly on long runs, and I am out of practice.
4. Come up with a workable strengthening plan. I currently do hip/glutes PT every single day, but am juggling my other strengthening around. I'd like to do an additional hour of overall strength weekly, plus a short version of an Iron Strength workout, a longer hip-strengthening day, a session of yoga, and at least one core workout. That's what I do right now minus the extra hour of overall strength: instead I often do a half-hour workout, or skip it all together, or sub it for a few minutes post-run daily planks etc. I need a better schedule.
5. Stick to the schedule of one hard day and one long day a week. I have proven to myself time and time again that I CANNOT do speed work twice a week. I will always get injured. I do much better with one day of speed, then perhaps a faster-paced long run or a fast-finish long run. This goes against many training philosophies (I generally run my long runs faster than prescribed), but in the past, it's worked to get me into shape, faster, and at the starting line healthy.
6. Work up to a reasonable 40 - 50 mpw and stick with it - a good balance of enough running to stay strong, but not so much that I'm injured.
7. Avoid surgery.
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So glad you are feeling better!
ReplyDeleteYour 2016 goals sound great. I can relate to so many of them. Yes to #1 and #5! Big Easy Half was my wake-up call for racing. I had forgotten how to hurt and my mental game was all over the place. I definitely felt sharper during Ole Man River having done a half marathon just four weeks prior.
I'm in the track/quality long run *only* camp as well. I don't think my body can handle more than that as far as speed work goes. The rest of my time is better spent cross-training on the bike and doing strength/core work. Better to get to the starting line slightly undertrained than overtrained and injured, right?
Sorry to hear that you were so sick around New Years. What a crappy way to start the year. :( I always love coming up with a list of goals as it gives me such a feeling of purpose. You've definitely got a good set of goals! My main fitness goals are a sub-4 hour marathon and to PR at the sprint tri I'm doing in August.
ReplyDeleteAmen to #5!!
ReplyDeleteI can't do speed work more than once a week... Getting old sucks!
BTW- I think you will probably BQ...
You have enough natural speed, with a few more long runs I think you will smash it!
I'm so glad you're feeling better. That sounded awful.
ReplyDeleteYour goals sound awesome. I'm excited to see how they work out for you. It seems like you're really looking at what has/hasn't worked for you in the past and building on that. Smart!
I've been working to build in more core/strength training/training more than once a week in general into my schedule.
Avoiding surgery sounds like a good plan! Also, I'm always shocked that people working in health care or otherwise around sick people don't get sick more often.
ReplyDeleteGreat goals for 2016. I especially like #7 and I think that any of the others can be sacrificed to make that one happen. But if they can all happen you're going to have a great year.
ReplyDeleteAvoiding surgery sounds like a great plan.
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