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

[superchime]

May is *rough*! I think it's smart to pull the plug rather than struggling and beating yourself up over it.

 

[Herding_Cats]

OOF! Well it's been a week! There was way too much stuff going on, and I didn't do any running or working out, but that's OK.

Things I'm telling myself right now: It's OK to not be on a training plan. It's OK to take a break from running while the insanity of the end of the school year approaches. (Our last day of school isn't until June 14th, except seniors' last day is next week.) It's OK if running isn't fun or exciting right now.

There are a lot of things I want to do this summer, like beach days, and fishing days, and kayak/tube-down-the-river days. I live in way too nice of a summer vacation/beach place for my kids to miss out on great outdoor summer activities. So here's my plan. Please, don't laugh too hard. We all know I'm great at coming up with a plan, while my execution of said plan is very hit or miss. I'm trying to make this more of a guide and less of a schedule, because flexibility is going to be needed.

Weight training
My goal for this summer is to lose at least 10 pounds... ...20 would be better, and get me back to my "normal" weight. At this point, I know that [half]marathon training doesn't accomplish that for me in any way, so I'm going back to weight training. This was very successful for me in the past, but I have a really hard time fitting in both running and weights. So I'm going to focus on the weights. That's going to look like BODi programs. I started "A Little Obsessed" yesterday, and plan on just repeating those 5 workouts until June. Those workout are about 35min each, and have slightly simplified moves from the program that comes after it. That should get me through 2-3 times, because the schedule is still busy here, and prepped for the summer program. Starting in June I'm going to complete "80 Day Obsession." The workouts in this are about an hour each. Will I manage to strictly stick to the schedule? I have no idea. But I should finish that up some time in August (allowing for some wiggle room for summer stuff to happen.) That's just in time for school stuff to get back into full swing. This was a pretty successful program for me last time I did it (I don't follow the nutrition plan, and will just count calories and protein) so I'm hopeful it will still do the trick again.

With a side of running
Since I cut back, and only signed up for Dopey , I do need to keep doing at least a little bit of running. IIRC, the rule of thumb is that I should be at 50% of my peak mileage/TOF before I start the marathon plan. That means ~20mi/week by the end of August. I feel like I can make that happen. This is going to mean doing doubles a couple days each week. What I'm considering is a Galloway-type schedule, with 2 shorter 30min/3mi runs and 1 longer run per week. I'm considering running in the morning before DH leaves for work (but UGH, I'm not a morning person) and lifting in the afternoon when it's too hot outside to do anything. Has anyone successfully managed to become a morning runner, when they are NOT a morning person? I'm only a morning person at Disney.


Now, I "negotiated" with DH that if I'm not working this summer, I get one night a week where he's the default parent for DD so that I don't lose my mind. This would be an easy day to look at doing my long run, but I'm not 100% sure that I want my one "night off" per week to become dedicated to running. Getting up at 3 or 4am so I can do a 2hr long run in August before DH has to go to work is NOT happening. It's just not. I'd have to go to bed at like 7pm. Figuring out when to do the long run is going to be the hardest part of this. @DopeyBadger I know you've done this program. Would it make sense to axe Cardio Flow for the long run? If I land that workout on Saturdays, it would be a lot easier to make Saturdays long-run-day and still allow for a "me night" during the week.


ETA: the running is slightly subject to change, based on the "Group Bad-Decision" race that I'm trying to get some of the XC moms to join me for in the end of August. There's a trail half the day after our big invitational meet for XC, and the time limit is NINE HOURS. I promised them lots of walking, and have 1 Yes, a few Maybes, and 2 Nos so far. HAHAHAHAHA! We wouldn't be well trained but would be trained enough to complete it. With lots of walking.

 

[Naomeri]

I can tell you that I attempted to become a morning runner last summer and I completely failed at it and it made the rest of my life miserable too. I had even worked it out with my boss that I could start and finish an hour later on running days so it didn’t have to be quite as early, and it still didn’t work.

My body doesn’t like to go to bed early, which made getting up early nearly impossible. This summer, my weekday runs are mostly speed workouts that are easier to accomplish on the treadmill, so I can do that anytime.

But maybe transitioning to mornings will work better for you because being a mom is a way more active lifestyle than sitting at a desk all day like me

 

[Herding_Cats]

I can tell you that I attempted to become a morning runner last summer and I completely failed at it and it made the rest of my life miserable too. I had even worked it out with my boss that I could start and finish an hour later on running days so it didn’t have to be quite as early, and it still didn’t work.

This is my exact fear.

But maybe transitioning to mornings will work better for you because being a mom is a way more active lifestyle than sitting at a desk all day like me

Oh I spend plenty of time sitting on my butt.

 

[DopeyBadger]

Cardio flow and leg days are the easiest to justify cutting when doing running and 80DO. Although legs are good to do when not in a training plan and toasting your legs. You could also consider doing a shorter long run pre-Dopey training at like 60-90 min instead of 2 hrs. Then just add in a fourth short 30 min run day towards the last 2-3 weeks of summer prior to Dopey.

 

[Herding_Cats]

Cardio flow and leg days are the easiest to justify cutting when doing running and 80DO. Although legs are good to do when not in a training plan and toasting your legs.

I actually kind of enjoy leg day in that program, so I don't want to just cut it out completely. I do NOT like cardio flow, so that's an easy one to get rid of.

You could also consider doing a shorter long run pre-Dopey training at like 60-90 min instead of 2 hrs. Then just add in a fourth short 30 min run day towards the last 2-3 weeks of summer prior to Dopey.

Oooooh. That is pretty much exactly what I wanted to hear. I knew I would be working my way up with the long run, but keeping it on the shorter side (6-8mi) for the long run cap instead of 10-11 sounds soooo much more manageable. And adding in that extra short run would be easy, if I manage to keep the lifting schedule mostly on track, in the second half of August when 80day would be done.

 

[col1]

I like your thinking summers can be short, and Kids grow fast so making that a priority gets my vote.

I would like to think I could be a morning runner but likely only at 9 ish in the morning once retired.

I have had to run before work around 0445hrs, what I observed was those runs compared to those later in the day at weekends were so so much more difficult and not at all enjoyable…… my body was saying hey, it’s middle of the night, I’ve had no food, no sleep What are you doing !!!

 

[Herding_Cats]

I like your thinking summers can be short, and Kids grow fast so making that a priority gets my vote.

I would like to think I could be a morning runner but likely only at 9 ish in the morning once retired.

I have had to run before work around 0445hrs, what I observed was those runs compared to those later in the day at weekends were so so much more difficult and not at all enjoyable…… my body was saying hey, it’s middle of the night, I’ve had no food, no sleep What are you doing !!!

I took a 7am workout class (so I had enough credits to be full time) in college and it was awful. My body just didn’t wanna.