Every Wish That We Put Into Motion.... (comments welcome!)

[JAMIESMITH]

The birthday princess looks adorable in her polka-dot dress

 

[Herding_Cats]

I have to pick between shoes now, and I didn't think the decision would be this hard.

(I decided I wanted to get a different marathon shoe that might 'help me along' so to speak instead of my trusty NB1080 that I currently have 5 or 6 pairs for running, and 2 "dead" pairs for daily use.) Will different shoes actually make a difference in times? As a member of team not-so-fast, probably not. But could it make these distances feel easier? Probably.

I had both pairs in-hand yesterday, so I ran a 10min warmup in my 1080s, and then a mile each in the 2 candidates on the treadmill.

The candidates: NewBalance FuelCell Supercomp Elite v3 (men's size 9) against NewBalance FuelCell Supercomp Trainer v1 (women's 10.5 wide)

My feet are weird, and wedge shaped with a normal-to-narrow heel and a wide forefoot. My 1080s are in a wide because the standard width gave me a nice under-the-nail blister in my first marathon. I use a heel lock to prevent too much heel slippage, but this has made me very used to a shoe that I can spread my toes out in the toebox and not be pushing against the upper on the big and little toe sides.

NBFCSC TRAINER (I purchased amazon returns for $106)
PROS: I feel like I'm running on trampolines. These things are ridiculously bouncy but still cushy, and the stack is HIGH on these. They have "normal" lace eyelets, and I can lace for a heel lock. They cost less (msrp is $170.) I feel like I had a close to normal for me midfoot-ish strike.

CONS: They are already on v2 of this shoe, and all of the reviews I've read say v2 is less bouncy. I might need quarter-crew socks because the opening of the shoe has this....ribbed knit-ish border that I feel like could get chafe-y. It only comes in 3 colors. Hugs my whole foot more than I'm used to and I worry about blisters.

NBFCSC ELITE (I purchased amazon returns for $125)
PROS: Lighter than the trainers. Bouncy (less than the trainers though.) No weird border around the shoe opening. More colors (and specifically ones that would go with my costumes for January.)

CONS: These felt like more of a mid-to-forefoot strike when I ran in them, which I hesitate to put in the "con" list, but it did feel kind of odd. I worry about that putting additional stress into my calves if it does change my foot strike slightly. More expensive (msrp $230.) No ability to lace for a heel lock as these don't have the traditional set of double eyelets at the top of the shoe, and my heel was sliding around more than usual. Hugs my whole foot more than I'm used to and I worry about blisters.


All of this is to say, I don't know which one to pick. And I don't want to take them on an outside run because the intention is to return one pair.

 

[Herding_Cats]

Weekly wrap-up:
I need to start making some notes as I go through the week because there was definitely something(s) this week that I thought, oh I should jot that down somewhere for my training journal, and have since completely forgotten what that thing was.

Sunday: return flight from Disney, and then a 4 hour car ride. It comes as no surprise that I did not run this day.

Monday: 4mi easy with strides. Only managed 2 strides because I completely forgot about them, and was running out of time for do this run anyway. I got out of work a couple of hours early and had just enough time to fit this in, shower, pick DD up from preschool, and then head to DS1's 's soccer game.

Tuesday: 3mi easy. Today was shoe-testing day. Both of my new pairs were here, and I needed to figure out which ones I want to keep. (See my previous post about this.) Then it was time to divide and conquer for DS1&2's XC meet and DS3's soccer game. I went to the meet and DH stayed for soccer. DD hopped in with the elementary kids race (we do a kid's XC program and they participate in 1-mi runs at our 3 conference meets) which is supposed to be for 2nd-5th graders. She just turned 4. The entire girls varsity team is wrapped around her finger, and she got a few of her favorites to run along with her and completed her mile in 11:22 and didn't take any walk breaks (and she was offered several.) Nothing like having your toddler reinforce your slow pacing. :lol:

Wednesday: rest

Thursday: 3mi easy with strides 6mi "easy" with new shoes. This was supposed to be a swap with Friday's run AND be 7mi, but I took too long getting ready and only had time for 6mi.

I thought I had decided which shoes to keep. Logically, it made more sense for me to keep the v3Elites since they were the newest model and had the most color available. I had them on my feet and laced up (with some creative lacing at the top to create a heel lock because there was slippage happening) and just walking around the house it just felt too loose. My heel was moving a lot, and since these are supposed to be marathon shoes that seems like setting myself up for disaster. So at the last second I changed my mind and put on the v1Trainers. Wearing these outside meant that I was 100% committed to keeping them.

My focus was on just running by feel (aka not check my watch until a mile beeped), and not going out too fast in the beginning. Easy pace for me is usually between 13:40 and 14:00 depending on the weather.
Mile 1 was 13:19.
Mile 2 was 13:11. Time to pump the breaks.
Mile 3 was 13:44 and I felt like I wasn't even moving.
Mile 4 was 13:04.
Mile 5 was 13:18.
YAY NEW BOUNCY SHOES! I decided to turn this into a "fast finish" run and see how they felt at something other than baby-steps-easy-pace. See if I could just do like 12:15-12:30.
Mile 6 was 11:25. Whoops. But also, I was really feeling the effort at the end of this mile. And this is supposed to be between my HM and 10k pace? Definitely something to think about there. Was it because I "overran" the first 5 miles? Was is because I have done basically 0 speedwork in a year+? Was it because I just took a week off for a trip? If I think about it too much it's a little disconcerting.

Friday: 7mi easy supposed to switch and be 3mi easy. Yeah. Too much other stuff going on.

Saturday: 430am wakeup to drive to our XC meet where I had organized a parent pancake breakfast. It was still dark when we got there, and we were setting up by parking lot light. :lol: DS2 ran a PR (18:08) and wasn't happy with it. Story of the season with that kid. He's not going to be satisfied until he's in the 17s (or faster.) DS1 ran 20:30. It was his 5th contest of the week as he had 3 soccer games and a xc meet earlier in the week, so it was a good time for him, all things considered. And then everyone napped in the car on the way home except for DH, because he was driving. And then after we got home we napped some more.


We are on the down-swing of our fall craziness now. No more weeks with 5 or 6 games/meets. Only 3 more weeks until the restaurant closes for the season. And I'm 30 days out from being able to make ADRs for marathon weekend.

This week's SAFD was timely since I'm trying to figure out when/how to fit in cross training, probably starting later this month when I'm done working. Lifting on "rest" days: yay or nay?

 

[Naomeri]

DD hopped in with the elementary kids race (we do a kid's XC program and they participate in 1-mi runs at our 3 conference meets) which is supposed to be for 2nd-5th graders. She just turned 4. The entire girls varsity team is wrapped around her finger, and she got a few of her favorites to run along with her and completed her mile in 11:22 and didn't take any walk breaks (and she was offered several.) Nothing like having your toddler reinforce your slow pacing. :lol:

I was scrolling through the results of the 5K I ran yesterday and I got beat by a 4 year old girl by over 4 minutes (though, to be fair to me, she probably didn’t run a 10K right beforehand )

 

[GollyGadget]

There’s a lot of conflicting information out there about when to lift. Mostly I hear to lift on your hard days so that your easy days are easy but the Hansons’ plan has lifting on easy/rest days. Ultimately, something is better than nothing so pick whatever is going to work best for your schedule.

 

[Herding_Cats]

There’s a lot of conflicting information out there about when to lift. Mostly I hear to lift on your hard days so that your easy days are easy but the Hansons’ plan has lifting on easy/rest days. Ultimately, something is better than nothing so pick whatever is going to work best for your schedule.

yeah. and I know it's a discussion we've had in my journal before, and in some of the other threads as well. I just don't think I can reasonably fit in running AND lifting on the same days (lifting sessions shorter than 40min just seem like all I do are warmup sets) which I feel like what a lot of the research is about.

If it would be "really bad" to take my rest days and turn them into lifting days, I won't.

(I also am going to have to shift my whole schedule because the option to change preschool aftercare schedules with 30 days notice got taken away, and I can't do a 3hr long run on a day that she's only in school for 2.5 hours.)

 

[WillRunForPizza]

I would probably leave at least one day that's a complete rest day each week, but if you have additional days when you're not planning to run, I think that's a reasonable time for strength training. Just try to avoid doing heavy lower body strength the day before a workout or a long run - that's not a fun sequence lol

 

[azrivest]

Of course, everyone's mileage will vary. For me, I've had more success staying consistent by keeping my run days and my strength days separate, which makes me work out pretty much 7 days a week. I just can't find the time or the mental energy to do strength after doing a 45-60 minute weekday run.

 

[Herding_Cats]

Weekly wrap-up: mostly on-track. This "should" be the last week we have soccer, which is bittersweet since DS1 is a senior this year and that means he will likely be done with soccer as we don't really have any adult rec leagues around. Fall weather finally arrived on Thursday and my HR shows that so clearly it's ridiculous.

Sunday: 5mi easy it was so hot. Like mid/upper 80s all day. So I planned to run at about 7pm, so I would be home before it was completely dark out. But then I ate meatloaf and baked potatoes for dinner at 6. Whoops!

Monday: 4mi easy 5mi easy, because why not "make up" for skipping yesterday. Still super hot out, and I ran this at 2pm since I got out of work early and had just enough time to squeeze this in before rushing over to a soccer game. Nothing like running during the hottest part of the day. *sigh* Avg pace was 14:07, avg HR 149 and I somehow spent 44% of the run in zone 4. So that's how crappy this run was.

Tuesday: rest 4mi easy, treadmill. Still making up for missing Sunday by just shifting everything back a day. Not a lot to report on this run. 14:10 avg pace (4.3 or 4.4 and 3.6 for speeds on 30/30 intervals) and my HR avg was 136. So, same pace as the day before, but 13bpm "better" on HR.

Wednesday: 3mi easy So on this day I was "back on schedule." But I looked at things and thought I don't have any hard or even moderate efforts this week, let's do that today. I decided on a half mile warm up, 2mi at M pace, and then a half mile cooldown. Once again fitting this in between work and soccer. Started my run and at some point figured I was getting close to a half mile, so I checked my watch. Oh look, I never started it. Rather than just blindly guessing at the distance, I started my watch and ran until I was at a half mile. So I'm already going to be over. On a day I'm a little bit time-constrained. Warm up was 30/30 intervals, and the M pace was 60/30, which is kind of a guess for me since I've run almost exclusively easy runs. With the T+D (137 or something) I figured I needed to be around 12:20. They ended up being 12:08 and 12:09. They also felt....not super comfortable. I'm considering making my M-pace intervals 40/20, since all I really need to do is make sure it's a 2:1 ratio, and 40/20 should feel pretty similar to 30/30. All told, I ran a "bonus" 0.74mi with my missing starting my watch.

Thursday: 4mi easy rest day. We were in desperate need of groceries, and then had sports all evening, so I spent my day at costco and then at soccer.

Friday: 4mi easy. Hey look! The scheduled run on it's scheduled day! Amazing. The weather had cooled off, DS1's engineering academy was closed due to (what turned out to be an out of context comment that was taken as) a threat. I asked him to be a very nice boy and pick his sister up from pre-school before he went to finish out his afternoon at our normal school. It was in the low 50s, which felt SO GOOD. I am concerned that I may have gotten cadence lock during this run, but I'm not sure. When I compare the numbers from earlier in the week (when I was outside and HOT or inside on the tread) my pace was in the low 14s. On THIS day, my avg pace was 13:36 and my avg HR was 137. So almost the same as Tuesday, but 30sec/mi faster?? And my avg cadence came in at 139. So either my fitness is starting to catch up and really liked the colder weather, or my watch did me dirty. The run did feel nice and easy, but I just didn't really believe the HR reading the whole time.

Saturday: rest. Another XC meet, and it was 45 and raining. There are a couple of teams that we *have* to beat to make it to state finals, and 2 of the 3 were at this meet. We beat the better of the 2 by 2 points, which was because DS2 passed one of their runners with about 50m to go. Our #1 runner had a terrible day and ended up being our 5th guy, so it definitely should not have been that close, and shouldn't be that close when we run at regionals in 3 weeks. Hopefully. Fingers crossed.


I jumped in on that target circle ticket offer, and we went from "we aren't really going to do parks much...maybe just a couple off days" to having a 5-day hopper. So my entire MW plan got flipped on it's head, and I'm scrambling to redo it all. Can anyone comment on if the dinner+fireworks at epcot thing is "worth it?" It would be replacing a table service meal in springs, so the cost is somewhat comparable. I don't really want to have to stake out a viewing spot hours in advance, and I feel like there's always trees in the way if we wait to find a place to watch.

Also, I signed up/registered to be a basketball referee for this season. Paid cross-training? More wrinkles to plan for in my peak months of training.

 

[RuntheMouse]

Can anyone comment on if the dinner+fireworks at epcot thing is "worth it?" It would be replacing a table service meal in springs, so the cost is somewhat comparable. I don't really want to have to stake out a viewing spot hours in advance, and I feel like there's always trees in the way if we wait to find a place to watch.

We did the dinner + Illuminations package years ago at Rose & Crown and loved it. I think depends on the restaurant you choose, some have better views than others. We were seated on the water and had a great view. The exit walk was also memorable, they didn’t rush us out, as the park emptied out we strolled on through.

 

[Herding_Cats]

We did the dinner + Illuminations package years ago at Rose & Crown and loved it. I think depends on the restaurant you choose, some have better views than others. We were seated on the water and had a great view. The exit walk was also memorable, they didn’t rush us out, as the park emptied out we strolled on through.

Spice Road Table and Rose & Crown are the only options. We've never eaten at either of them because we typically just snack our way through world showcase.

 

[Herding_Cats]

Because I'll forget by next weekend:

Sunday: 9mi easy 8mi easy + 1mi M, practiced nutrition.
Let's start with the nutrition. This was a 2hr run, and I ate a stroopwaffle while I was getting dressed. Running belt with water only. Huma raspberry at mile 4. I drank about half the water (probably around 9-10oz) during the run. It was cool and breezy out, so I didn't *feel* thirsty. I felt fine during the run.

Shoes: I decided to wear my new supercomp trainers on a longer run to see if there would be any ankle or chafing issues. There were not. HOWEVER. The slightly narrower toe-box felt uncomfortable for the first few miles; I don't like that it pushes my 2nd toe into my big toe, and I'm concerned that once I get up over 20mi that blisters could be an issue. And unfortunately, that's something I won't find out until January. Additionally, my left arch was cramping/spasming several times during the run, so much so that I had to stop and stretch at mile 5. My legs and feet complained a lot during the 2nd half of this run. This is something I experienced last year, and I think it's mostly my body trying to convince me that I should stop running because it's getting tired, so it tests out different things hurting and when I ignore it for about 5min, it will switch to somewhere else. But my arch/leg issues on this particular run felt a little bit different? Is it because it was a long run (which otherwise felt nice and easy)? Is it because I spent a lot of time on Saturday and Sunday morning in rubber boots that have no support? Is it the new shoes? Should I try taking my arch supports out and wearing the factory insoles with the new shoes? This morning my feet and lower legs are still unhappy.

Pacing: bouncy shoes means a slightly faster pace. Easy "should be" 13:35-14:00. For the first 8 miles I averaged 13:23, with the slowest mile being 13:37 and the fastest being 13:04. I decided to test out my 40/20 theory for mile 9. You guys. Why did I not try this sooner. 60/30 intervals I felt like I was running for.ev.er. With 40/20, the walk interval definitely feels shorter, but the run interval doesn't feel overly long. And that mile? 11:57. And it wasn't difficult. I wasn't breathing hard at the end of a run interval, even on my little uphills. It felt so much better, sustainable, and it was faster while feeling easier.

 

[Herding_Cats]

Weekly wrap up (10/8-14):
Yeaaaaaaaah. 2 half days of school, one day of no school, sports every night. Things went off the rails this week, and then it rained and was crappy all day Saturday. I also had some lingering tightness in one of my adductors, so I wasn't really in a rush to keep running while that was annoying me.

Instead of listing what I was supposed to do, and then what I actually did, I'm just going to post what got done.

Sunday: 8mi easy + 1mi M. Discussed in PP.

Wednesday: 4.5mi easy-ish. Pretty sure this was a "hurry up and get it done before I have to leave" run. The first 3mi were easy. Mile 4 got down to about 13:00, and the half mile was 12:27, neither of which are fast enough to be M pace, nor slow enough to be easy. But it was an hour of running, so whatevs.

That's it. This month was supposed to put me just over 100mi, and I definitely will not get there. I'm already working on letting go of the idea so I don't try to "make up" the miles by tacking on extra.




And since I'll forget details (and it was pretty amusing,) DH went on my run with me on Sunday.

Sunday (10/15): the plan said 5mi easy. We ended up doing 6mi. I was wanting to do a little more than the 5 (because of the previous week...see above) AND incorporate the speedwork I was supposed to do on Friday. DH kept asking, "but how many miles are you going to do?" And I kept telling him, "I don't know, it'll depend on how I feel." I decided that it would be Friday's workout, plus extra on the WU and CD portions, so:

2mi WU + 3 reps of (0.5mi HM pace + 4min recovery walk) + 2mi CD

I promptly forgot to start my watch, and didn't notice until I was doing a pace check at ~0.5mi in (it was actually 0.4 based on what my watch said at my normal 1mi mark...yay running math!) DH is faster than I am, so this was "too fast" for me at about 13:00/mi pace. But it felt ok, and this was intended to be a more laborious run anyway. HM goal pace is about 11:30. Rep one came in at 11:03. Rep 2 at 11:33. Rep 3 at 11:36. Not too shabby. I used 50/20 intervals for HM pace, and it was challenging, but sustainable. (Sustainable for 13 miles? Not so sure about that one.) DH was definitely slowing down during the last 2 miles and commented on how heavy his legs felt as we finished out the last mile. And once we got home, he was pretty much done for the day.

And now for the humorous part: While we were still deciding on how long this run would be, he asked me, "Well how long does it take you to run 13 miles?" This is because he still has his W&D medal in the box, and he'd like to be able to hang it up. So I told him, at least 3 hours if I ran it as slowly as I'm supposed to for a training run. For the rest of the day, as he would limp around the kitchen, or make "old man noises" when standing up, I'd ask him if he was SURE he didn't want to go run another 7mi? The next day I got to hear about how his core was sore, his hip, his hip flexors, his shins when he pulled his toes up. All of the things.

Anyhow, I'm pretty sure DH is now starting to buy into the idea that he does actually need to do some training before January if he wants to be a functional person on Saturday afternoon and Sunday.

 

[Herding_Cats]

I can't seem to find my motivation; has anyone seen it? This week wasn't awful from an "execute the plan" standpoint, but it left a lot on the table. I don't know if it's just that I'm in a "normal" lull of running motivation since I've sort-of been on a plan since July, or if it's hormonal PMS stuff, or if it's the fact that it's still dark at 730 in the morning, and dark by 7pm, and it's been rainy and gross for the past week. Maybe a little of all 3? Anyhow

Sunday: discussed above.

Monday: 5mi easy-ish. I don't even remember doing this run.

Wednesday: 4mi easy. It was my last day of work making pies for the year, and DS1 had a soccer playoff game 45min away, so I got up at 530 and forced myself onto the treadmill. I hate running early in the morning, and it felt awful the whole time. I can only get away with feeling like a human at the disney races because I've been awake for 3+ hours by the time we start.

Friday: 1mi WU + 3 set of (0.5mi HM + 4min recovery walk) + 1mi CD. This came out to 4mi. I completely forgot how/when to use my lap button on the first HM repeat, but I was pretty much at goal pace for those, which is ~11:30-11:40. It felt harder than last time though, and that is apparently because instead of using 50/20, I was using a 50/30 interval. I'm not even sure where that one came from, but I was definitely running harder than Sunday when I did almost the same workout. I also sewed myself a fleece running skirt because my butt gets super cold during runs once the temps start getting down into the 40s.

Saturday: ~2mi walk in a corn maze (plus all of the walking at our team's pre-regional XC meet.) Cross training I guess?

Sunday: I was supposed to do 10mi, but it was DS1's birthday (he's 18 now?!) and then we had a bunch of miscellaneous seasonal stuff that had to get done at home. I was also cold ALL DAY. Like, wrapped in a blanket, fleece pants, socks, sweatshirt, and still cold. It was in the 40s out and I was NOT in the mood to go run in that for nearly 2.5 hours, so I decided to push it off to Monday after I dropped DD off at preschool.


And now it's Monday, and it's TWENTY-NINE FREAKING DEGREES OUTSIDE.

 

[Herding_Cats]

Also, I'm now in the mulling stages for next year. Feel free to weigh in on my potentially poor decisions.

Already planned for:
-MW-Dopey (January)
-Sunrise Half (end of March)--may or may not be an "A" race since it's the day before we go on a cruise

Considering (ideally I would run with SIL):
-Bayshore (Memorial Day weekend--half or full? the half usually sells out the first day, and I'm not sure about the time cutoff for the full; I think it's 5 or 6 hours?)
-North Country Trail Run (end of August) marathon or 50k; but the elevation gain is a lot; 9hr cutoff for the 50k
-Chicago?--(mid-October) "easy" to get into, drivable for a weekend trip
-NCTR and Chicago? --this seems like a bad idea
-NY?--(November) "hard" to get into, would be $$$$$ this is during XC state finals, so it's a no-go for a few years

 

[WillRunForPizza]

I can't seem to find my motivation; has anyone seen it? This week wasn't awful from an "execute the plan" standpoint, but it left a lot on the table. I don't know if it's just that I'm in a "normal" lull of running motivation since I've sort-of been on a plan since July, or if it's hormonal PMS stuff, or if it's the fact that it's still dark at 730 in the morning, and dark by 7pm, and it's been rainy and gross for the past week. Maybe a little of all 3? Anyhow

I know the weather has a massive impact on my motivation! And ugh, 29 degrees should NOT be a thing in October

Happy birthday to DS1, though! He is officially an adult! (lol)

-Sunrise Half (end of March)--may or may not be an "A" race since it's the day before we go on a cruise

OR a great time for an A race because then you're all done and you can celebrate/relax! Unless Feb/March will be too awful to train for it.

 

[Herding_Cats]

I know the weather has a massive impact on my motivation! And ugh, 29 degrees should NOT be a thing in October

Happy birthday to DS1, though! He is officially an adult! (lol)


OR a great time for an A race because then you're all done and you can celebrate/relax! Unless Feb/March will be too awful to train for it.

We have usually had s-n-o-w by this time of year where I live. Nothing that sticks or stays, because the ground isn't frozen yet, but it does fall from the sky. I hate running outside when it's cold, and unless I want to drive (and then run literally IN the road) running outside after the frozen precipitation is here to stay is not going to happen. And that means a lot of treadmilling. I don't *mind* my treadmill, but DH's tablet screen is shattered, so I either have to run with no shows, or try to watch them on my phone and that sucks.

 

[GollyGadget]

Also, I'm now in the mulling stages for next year. Feel free to weigh in on my potentially poor decisions.

Already planned for:
-MW-Dopey (January)
-Sunrise Half (end of March)--may or may not be an "A" race since it's the day before we go on a cruise

Considering (ideally I would run with SIL):
-Bayshore (Memorial Day weekend--half or full? the half usually sells out the first day, and I'm not sure about the time cutoff for the full; I think it's 5 or 6 hours?)
-North Country Trail Run (end of August) marathon or 50k; but the elevation gain is a lot; 9hr cutoff for the 50k
-Chicago?--(mid-October) "easy" to get into, drivable for a weekend trip
-NCTR and Chicago? --this seems like a bad idea
-NY?--(November) "hard" to get into, would be $$$$$ this is during XC state finals, so it's a no-go for a few years

Which one excites you the most? Any of them are possible, the question is what will keep you motivated.

Don’t forget that a marathon is not the only distance or the best distance. Lots of recreational runners fall into this trap and it’s simply not true. I had a lot of fun training for a mile after my marathon early this year and plan to do the same next year.

The general advice is not to train for more than 2 marathons per year and sometimes that’s even extended to no more than 3 over 2 years. Are there any shorter races that appeal to you? Maybe something to try for a PR or a short trail run to mix it up and try something new?

 

[Herding_Cats]

Which one excites you the most? Any of them are possible, the question is what will keep you motivated.

At the moment, none of them. I'm at that point in the pendulum of training interest where I could come up with a semi-decent reason to not go for a run just about every day. And I'm just trying to ride it out until I am sometimes excited to go for a run instead of doing it so I don't DNF in January. And because I have to so firmly ingrain exercise into my routine before winter gets here that I'm not peeling myself off the couch for 3 or 4 months.

Don’t forget that a marathon is not the only distance or the best distance. Lots of recreational runners fall into this trap and it’s simply not true. I had a lot of fun training for a mile after my marathon early this year and plan to do the same next year.

I can see that. I definitely have fallen into "just" mode when considering other distances. But at the same time, I feel like with the marathon I put a lot less pressure on myself to run a certain time. I also don't really enjoy speedwork much, which is one of the reasons I do so little of it in my plans, because it just reinforces how slow I am. (And I'm not pace-shaming myself....I'm slow, it is what it is.) I also feel like if it's not a BIG distance it's easy for me to come up with reasons to skip a lot more training runs than I should. Could doing a 5k or 10k-focused training plan after Dopey be really beneficial? Probably. Will I be very excited to maybe set a 3min PR in the 5k? Unlikely.

The general advice is not to train for more than 2 marathons per year and sometimes that’s even extended to no more than 3 over 2 years. Are there any shorter races that appeal to you? Maybe something to try for a PR or a short trail run to mix it up and try something new?

I mean, the idea of cutting way back on running after Dopey, doing just enough to get by for the half in March, and focusing on weight training until like...May has crossed my mind. But running gets me out of the house and my toddler can't try to climb on me when I'm 3 miles away.

 

[GollyGadget]

I speak from personal experience when I say that signing up for a marathon may not reignite your motivation. It sure didn’t work for me and the ensuing marathon was a complete torture fest.

What about a running goal not related to a race? In 2021, I set a yearly mileage goal and that worked wonders for building the habit of running and lead to me finding the joy in it once again.

Also, a 3 min PR in a 5K would be a huge accomplishment! I’d be happy with a 3 second PR .