A Crazy 4

i decided, after reading J's last 2 blogs this morning, that i had to run at lunch. i had all my stuff in the truck, i try to keep it in there in case i get motivated to run at lunch. i have developed a pretty rigorous plan to get me in shape for high altitude elk hunting and maybe even some ultras in the fall. i have spent about a week trying to develop my perfect plan, fitting in tuesdays as my on call nights and long runs on saturdays, and trying to get all the different workouts in. i think i have it perfected, after writing out 3 or 4 imperfect plans. this plan includes 3 runs a week (one tempo, one interval, one long run), 2 days of strength training, 2 days of yoga, 1 hard bike during the week, 1 easy bike, and one day of hills (running a hill up and down continuously for a set time on some days and hiking with pack up and down the hill some days). the big plan is to maintain where i am now, running long runs in the lower teens and loosely following the scheduled plan i have and in mid may start on my scheduled plan strictly. i might try to start in in february and maybe run a marathon in april. however, that marathon is on opening weekend of turkey season. i know during turkey season i will have a hard time getting in my long runs on the weekends. i need to build up my upper leg muscles this year to be able to get up the mountains better.

i tried a tempo run today. the plan was to run a mile comfortably then run 3 miles at 9:15 pace, then run the last mile comfortably. as i headed out it was about 30 degrees, about 20 mph winds, and snowing. everyone at work told me i was crazy for running in those conditions. i told them i had to be dedicated to get it done, i am a runner. i want to be a much better runner and hunter, therefore i have to run in conditions that others don't want to run in and take every chance i get to run. after running the first 1/2 mile i thought i should cut the run to 4 miles, due to time constraints and laziness. the first mile was about 9:22, the second was 9:14, the third was a little slow at 9:40, and the last was 10:20. those times probably aren't exactly correct, but they are close, i don't have my watch with me right now.

thought of the day: there is a big elk sitting at the end of my hard work, i have to keep him pictured in my head, and the hard work is easy. (there is a marathon under 4 hours too, but the elk is easier to picture). J's hard work pushes me too, the third goal is to beat him in a race.