Some new things to talk about now for my journal. First topic is my new
@DopeyBadger plan which I had not yet put into my journal due to just being super busy at work (this whole month I've not been updating the excercise or weight loss dis-board threads due to just business...but I promise my will power is at a very high level when it comes to wanting to do this stuff right now...just hard to remember to post about it.)
But it's nice to have these attainable checklists of what to do each day to get me to my 8k in early April. It's been good to have a focus on what pace to do each run at and what day to be easy vs focus on speed/tempo, etc. Without a plan I tend to get a little lost and divert to running the same pace and distance every time.
So I'll talk a little about that and then what my plan has for me this week starting tonight. Everything is treadmill for me at this point so I'm just hoping that the 37 degrees on the forecast for Sunday holds up because that would be great to get back outside for my "long run."
And then my last topic is a new race that my husband and I are going to tackle and it looks amazingly fun.
Topic 1: My "Badger plan"...I'd call it Dopey plan...but I'm not running a Dopey. This plan is to get me from January (post my Disney 5k) all the way up to the Shamrock Shuffle 8k in Chicago...aka the longest mileage race I will have run to date.
I received a very long and informative plan and spreadsheet but I will summarize the key points.
1) Keep an 80% Easy / 20% Hard split
2) Have the longest run in a week not exceed 35% (near impossible on 3-day plan)
3) Try to maintain 3-days a week with as no weekdays above 45 min.
4) Never exceed 3:00 hours in a training run (not applicable)
5) Use Arthur Lydiard method of specialization. The closer we get to 8K day, the less speed work we do and the more tempo like workouts.
The excel sheet also gave me pace goals for the different types of workouts. Based on my current fitness and where I am comfortable for my 5ks. But keeping in mind I'm just trying to complete the new distances, not necessarily set any world records...but racing at my 5k pace would be an awesome goal.
Warm Up/Cool Down 13:09
EA 12:23
EB 11:37
LR 11:14
Tempo 9:37
Speed 9:13
I also am focusing on a bunch of other things to make me a better runner, like hydration/nutrition/posture/etc.
Topic 2: My plan this week. First two weeks are very similar. Next week I get up to 4 miles for my LR though

Tuesday (today!) 2.5 Miles at EA 12:23
Thursday 1/21 .5 mi @ WU, 4x800m
@speed w resting interval @ WU 400m, .5 mil CD = 3 miles or about 41:27 min (23:01 easy, 18:26 hard.) It sounded tricky all the speed changes but it actually helps pass the time of the workout when it changes up. I'll get better as I keep going at keeping track of these.
Sun 1/24 3 mile LR = ~33:42 minutes
Topic 3: A new race!
My family always visits Ohio every spring to see family. Last year I ran my first 5k (that wasn't me walking) in Cincinatti called the Candy Run. My Aunt and Uncle had told me all about the Flying Pig Marathon series in early May and it was in the back of my mind. My husband suggested we change our Ohio weekend to coincide with the Flying Pig. They offer a bunch of races...a mile, 5k, 10k, half, full. And all the metals have little pigs on them...plus it sounds like it is a very popular race. They have an option to run a 10k, get back in line and then about 30 minutes later run a 5k. That sounds kind of interesting. So I think I definitely want to aim for the 10k and maybe that double race. I'll let you all know how that goes!