Friday, January 9, 2009

January Running: Westview Dr Hill Repeats

My goal is to run at least 6 sets of hill repeats on Westview Dr in January. The hill on Westview starting at Baseline Rd is .17 mi long according to my Garmin 305. I figure 3 repeats equal a mile. It's 2.25 mi to Westview and Baseline from home. This is the Merritt way. I count 7 repeats as a 7 mi run.
Actual January Running

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Running Goals for 2009

My running goals for this year are to do well in the Bolder Boulder 10K and Steamboat Springs Marathon. I will start hills in January, ramp up my long run up to 16 mi and start running at Potts Field twice a week on Tuesday and Friday morning in February. I will run 45 mi/wk March through May. After the marathon on June 7, I will run 4 mi easy, 6 mi medium and 10 mi on the weekend. I will assess my fitness level in September.

What I learned in 2008

I learned a lot of things about running that I should not have. I say this because as I review these things I learned they are all common sense.
1. I cannot run a marathon comfortably without running 45 mi/wk for the prior 12 weeks.
2. Running with my glutes is more efficient.
3. When I run hard then easy, the easy has to be easy. That is less than 4 mi.
4. Backpacking in the summer counts as major adventures not as training for a marathon.

My weekly mileage for 2008.
I initially built up to 45 mi/wk but then tried only running 3-4 times a week. Plus the Colfax marathon was 76 degrees and I died. I started running base mileage of 35-38 mi/wk in September and carried this through to December rather than run another marathon or train for a marathon. This was wise and I finished 2008 in very good shape with no injuries.