learning to run

Those of you at Duathlon Worlds in Richmond Virginia in 2007 might remember this scary little guy...... he was on the course..... and he was screaming BOOOO! When I realized that screaming BOO to a bunch of athletes was..... not likely to be taken correctly...... we switched to ROOOOOOAAAAAAARRRRRR!!!!!! Nothing says Halloween like a Monster with a walker!

"You learned to run." Were Coach T's parting words to me, "Now you have to learn to run fast."

Yeah, I did learn to run. At a party in 2007 I remember telling him I would never be able to run more than 3-4 times a week because of my Achilles. He told me if he was coaching me, he'd have me run every single day. I gasped. Did he HEAR ME???? I spend four months in Das Boot, and on crutches and I will not go back to that by over training.

Apparently I misunderstood. I got injured because I was training wrong. Not because I was overtraining.

I am by nature not a great runner. Yet. Over the past 2 years I have focused on the Ironman and I can hang on to my Ironman running pace (which for me is a 3:55 - 4:00 Ironman..... stop laughing all you sub 3:30 freaks!!!). It has served me well. It has served me so well that in Texas I hung at exactly that pace no matter what. Which would have been really lovely had it been an Ironman and not a half.

But beggars can't be choosers.

I can run every single day. My running has greatly improved and in 2009 I am determined to show it. I can run while sleeping, forever and ever. Coach T is right, this year I shall be running fast. We all have our definition of fast, just accept and be yours. It's not worth comparing. Fast for me is fast for me.

As I already printed my first week of transition period..... I already am wrestling with myself about starting earlier. But No. Coach says Nov 2nd. That means I start in Florida, the day after Curt does Ironman. What better place to start? Next week I will allow myself to begin some running. Some, not a lot. 3 days at 30 minutes each as my back is feeling G.R.E.A.T.

(PS: it is ok to run in the off-season. In a few days I will have a post about the off-season itself.)

In December I will begin a running camp. Just like I did before. Now the key to these running camps is running the right pace. Many of you have heard me boast about the benefits of the Jack Daniels running programs. Here is a good link if you are not familiar with the whole V Dot system. Do yourself an even bigger favor, read his book.

The most important thing to not is that you don't run a V Dot you have not earned.

Example: My E paced is 9 minute miles. I have dropped to that over the year. Now that seems way too slow, but read through the program and then understand. I don't want to run 9 minute miles, I want to average 7-7:30's in a race. That's in a race, not in building a foundation though. 7:30 is my T pace. The way I will improve on that is training specificity at my V Dot. Not at an e paced or a t pace I have not yet earned. Unless I want another injury.

So I run at my V dot E pace for running camp. E pace teaches you to run efficiently (and saves you $175 on a pair of Newton shoes). E paced allows you to run frequently. It creates a lot of strength.

I will test by jumping into a 5K. Maybe a 10K. in December. We will see what the schedule holds. Reevaluation time. V Dot adjustment? Hopefully so. If not, we keep at it. Then we will take it from there.

This season will hold more T pace and some R paced runs than I had last season. And I will build my long run to 2 hours early, just like I did last year. This is all part of the foundation and the pieces of a carefully laid plan.

Don't worry, as it happens I will walk you through it with much more detail and much more explanation. I will do that will all of my training. Want numbers and watts? You will get them here. Call me the slower female Gordo. I will share what works and what doesn't. Take what you want from it.

Each of us is an individual. My plan won't work for you because...... it's my plan. Perhaps you can take pieces of my plan and apply them to your plan. Perhaps you will look at it and think..... wacko.

That's why I love this country. Freedom!

So 2009 will be the year I find a fast run within me. It's there. Damn thing has been buried in the Ironman. Since we have divorced I feel free to explore, and free to discover. Running for joy, that's what I will call it. Nah..... Running fast for joy.