Enjoy the process

So I started training again february 4th, 2017.  This wasn't some random date, this was exactly a year until the 2018 midwinter 10 miler.

I took some pretty small steps.  Week 1 was 12.3 miles total.  I needed to ease into things but had to get my strength back.  I jumped right in a 20 mile race, then a marathon in May.  Once through the summer I had my strength back, but I noticed I was running almost every race from 5-k to 12-k at the same pace.  I had no speed.

Got another marathon under my belt, and I was strong, but speed, I had nothing.

Some bad weather in the winter kept me from getting in the long runs I would need for a planned 50-k.  That was a blessing because what I need to do was work on speed, not more strength.

Of course I was training for the midwinter 10 miler.  That went well and as soon as I was through that I switched strategies.  I knew what I needed to do to get faster.

So to the track and shorter races I gravitated to.  I came up with a plan where I would work on 800 meter to 5-k range speed and get ready for indoor nationals.

That's about to happen and I've definitely got my speed back to where it needs to be.

Moving on, I'm going to focus on 5-k through 10-k distances through the spring and summer.  Decided I will do masters outdoors and do 1500, 5-k, and 10-k.

After that I'll switch gears and focus on 10-mile to marathon for late summer and early fall.  I'm going to do a marathon, probably Mohawk Hudson in NY, but only because I want to have a time under my belt so can sign up for a big one when I'm ready.

The rest of the fall will be dedicated to xc.
I love xc, but for some reason I really suck at it.  Not sure why.  Probably the best xc race I ever had was 12k, so maybe I just need to find the longer ones.

Now I'd like to run the us 50-k Champs before I get to the point I'm too frail.  So 2019 I think will be my 50-k debut.  Probably no indoor track season, but by then my speed and strength should be at there limits and I can focus on a fast marathon sometime in 2019.

The 50k really is something I want to do.  I'm going to have to find a treadmill to use if the weather gets like it did this year.

One odd ball race I'll do this summer is the us mountain running champs.  It's more of a suffer fest, but it's in new england and being all uphill the chance of getting hurt is slim.

At some point I'd like to transition back to trail/mountain racing most of the year.  Maybe get into the marathon/50-k distances, and do a lot more snowshoe races.  It's too bad snowshoe nationals was in ne this year because it probably won't be again for a handful of years, and by then, well, let's be honest, I'll be a lot slower.