Starting Fresh

Tonight I started the Galloway training. I will finish it in time for the Tinkerbell in January. I skipped week one but I think it will be ok since I have been running for a while now. I am definitely taking a step back and not pushing as hard because I was starting to hurt myself by doing too much too quickly. I have to keep reminding myself that even though I have been running since March, I have only been running since March. That probably sounds stupid but what I mean is I am still a new runner. I am still a beginner. I still need to take it slow.

Tonight was a short run of just 30 minutes. I love that with his plan, I am only doing three runs a week, two of which are just short 30 minute runs. Doing so many long runs, like I was with the 10K plan, made me feel like my legs never had time to recover and I didn't progress as much as I could. I'm excited about it all but it is hard to believe the Tink is only 20 weeks away.  Anyway, back to tonight's run. It went well. I had to stop after 20 minutes but in my eyes, it really wasn't a bad thing and was the result of a conscious decision. I realized about half way into the workout that my pace was faster than I expected. I knew that I couldn't keep it up for the entire workout so instead of slowing down and running longer, I decided to keep pushing and just run the faster pace for 20 minutes instead of 30. I was a full 2 minutes faster than I have been. It was very encouraging. My plan is to slow myself down on Thursday to make sure I get the entire 30 minutes in but I was still happy with my run tonight.

I'm playing around with my run/walk ratios right now. I have definitely found that doing the shorter intervals definitely helps my pace. Now I just need to find what fits me best. Right now I am doing an even ratio but we'll see if I keep that or change it up.

I really have to get my routine figured out. With Mac leaving soon, I know I can get very thrown off if I don't have it all figured out already. I have my training schedule all mapped out with the dates and everything and the funny thing is I have a workout scheduled for both Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. I thought about moving them but I think having time away from people to just center myself on those days will actually be best. It will be hard enough having Mac gone, I would feel guilty if he was gone and I didn't get my workouts in. Plus, like I said, it will be nice to have a minute to myself away from everything, a way to forget that it is a holiday and just treat it like any other day.

I'm excited about what is to come and trying to focus on my training now. There are still lots of things that can make me very discouraged but I am trying to ignore them at the moment. I just need to keep pushing forward and working towards my goals.