New training cycle

So the first race of the Golden State Series comes up in August. It's a half marathon on a fairly flat course.  Since my last half was run after a week of being back from a year long foot injury, I am hoping to do a little more training for this one! See Jan Run was just about getting out there, and doing a long run.  There were no expectations - as I hadn't been running properly for a year, and still had the odd twinges of pain.  In fact, I had to run the last mile barefoot as my foot was in agony.

I've started running in the mornings again - just like in Boston, and it's very proving to be a good thing. It forces me to do a short little run, and then the work day gives me enough time to recover should I decide to go to the gym in the evening. Right now I'm trying to get my fitness back up, and to try and run more consistency.  

My first week back from injury saw me run 26 miles. Had I continued, I would have been at the 100 miles/month that I had been doing prior to the injury.  It felt a bit excessive, so I've made a conscious effort to cut back on the weekly miles (~15) and do more cross-training. But I feel that it's not enough.  I need more miles! Not to mention the principle of sport-specific training. Still, I believe that  my fitness is slowly improving, I am feeling a lot better, and have understood that patience is indeed a virtue. But now it's time to move things up and along - hence the new training cycle.  

I found a great program that I am using as a basis, but I am going to adapt it a little as I need a longer training cycle than just 7 days.  I also want to train a bit harder, so maybe 10.  But I'll look at it tomorrow and work it out. Whilst I like the military precision of a 7 day cycle, it's just a wee bit too short, and I found previously that I was a bit better with a longer cycle.  Still, that was then.  But I am curious to see what happens with this half!  I only have 7 weeks so am also on a little bit of an accelerated curve, so I have to get it sorted quickly.

I am feeling a lot more positive about my running life - my morning runs are slowly improving, and last week I had a run at 9:24 average pace.  Nothing fancy, but to see these numbers after such a long time, was bliss.  And I ran pain-free! Still, this past Saturday I was hoping for 8, but I set off too late and it was too hot.  So I ran to 2 miles to the gym, ran 3 on the treaty, and ran 1 back as I was waylaid by the farmers market. It was a bit tiresome, but then I had a shakeout run this morning and feel a lot better. So tomorrow is cross fit and no running - Yes, I've rejoined my cult! Finally I feel like I am back in my old skin.  And the people I am training with are just as amazing as those in my previous box. #rungrateful #runhappy