Long runs

Been a busy few weeks in life. Winter storms, year-end work duties, kids birthdays, new seasons of favorite shows...and running. On the 18th, I put in 13 miles. My longest run since a marathon in 2004. Combined with getting my daily mileage up, I've been consistently running mid-40s per week. Even compared to years when I was preparing for Boston, my total mileage is still the most I've ever had for the month of January.

For the first time since college, I did a significant double run yesterday. 6 miles in the morning and another 10 at night. The 10 at night was my fastest paced run of the year.

All this leads me to start wondering if I shouldn't be preparing for another marathon, or at least a fast half-marathon. Like many runners, as soon as I finish a marathon, I figure I never need to do that again, but then soon after, begin to think of how I could do it better. Since the 2004 marathon, I haven't reached that "do it better" stage, but I can't deny I'm getting close.

I think some long runs are in my future.

Consistency

I'm off to my best mileage start of a year in my recorded history. Essentially, it all comes down to consistency. I'm running 6 days a week and getting in 6-10 miles per run. I'm taking the extra few moments after each run to stretch the problem areas, groin, calf, IT band that have plagued me in the past. Generally, I've been finishing my runs feeling better than when I started and have little soreness during the day. Mid-40s mileage for a little while will be a great base for Spring.

Looking at my running history, 1987 and 1997 were, by far, my best racing years. One was during college and one at the height of my marathoning days. Despite different training methods and personal obligations, the main similarities are consistent running and avoiding injuries. (okay, they tend to help one another, so maybe they are only one item). In the summer/fall of 87, I took off 10 days over the course of 20+ weeks. Most of those days were either pre or post a hard race. Other than the normal one week off between racing seasons back then, I was averaging 1 day off every two weeks. In 1997, from Boston to Ocean State, I averaged more than 5.5 days per week and was consistently at 6 days per week in the fall, leading up to my Baystate half-marathon (PR 1:23:19) and Ocean State (PR 3:19:36). Along the way, I had some fast races (18:33 Brewery Exchange 5k) and Aug/Sep averaged about 50 miles per week.

Now, if the weather and my schedule would cooperate, I'd like to avoid one set of consistency that I'm currently on....All my miles have been on the treadmill so far this year. That first run involving downhills is going to be interesting.

Youth Sports

I'm coaching my girls' youth basketball team this year. I haven't played basketball since 8th grade and when I played, I wasn't a starter. Since then, I've learned a lot about coaching and little about a bunch of sports. The combination makes me pretty good at the youth coaching level. Once I started coaching, I began to realize that I had some really good and really bad coaches in my history. In the youth sports, they were just involved parents like I am now. As a kid, I assumed they were experts at the sport. That's an important thing to keep in mind when running a program.

Youth soccer in North Reading does a good job of realizing that the coaches may not have experience in the sport. There is a weekly set of drills/skills to cover and a coaching meeting to go over the goals and key points, prior to the session. The other sports I've done in town (softball and basketball) leave you on your own to develop a season plan. I think that's what makes some sports a complete gamble for the kids. There are some softball teams we played against that were simply glorified babysitting. They didn't teach the kids anything about the sport and were more concerned about finishing early, not letting the kids play the games.

As I coach this basketball season, I'm trying to keep notes of what works and what doesn't. How the kids progress, etc. This should help me for next year and may provide a guide for the 2nd grade program next year.

Good Start

It's amazing that a simple date on the calendar adds such motivation, but New Year's, birthdays, holidays all seem to help inspire my running. To get a jump on my resolutions, I've started with three straight 8 mile runs. My highest total ever for the first three days. Given that I've been in training for Boston or getting into the middle of indoor track season in years past, this won't last, but if I can maintain around 40 miles or so a week, that is a good sustainable level and seems to be a level my body can handle without breaking down. When we get into speedwork and racing, I'll need to drop miles. I learned the hard way at the Burbank 5k, that my body can't do mid-40s and race.

Happy New Year.

Resolutions

To help make the resolutions stick, I have to make them public.

Mileage goals: 2000, 1500, 1250
Races: Under 35 minutes at Showcase 5 miler; Under 20 minutes at Hornet Hustle 5k; find at least three other races to do. (one half marathon, one x-c, one flat 5k (Burbank 5k again?))

General: at least 20 runs of 10 miles or more; Treadmill miles under 60% of total.

Add a cross-training workout each week (row, bike, etc). Add stretching/strengthening exercises twice a week.

Weight: under 170 pounds (currently 180); body fat under 17% (currently 18ish); body water consistently over 55% (54ish now). (since I'm eating chips while writing this, I may have some trouble here).