The Plan

My training plan is complete. It’s a thing of beauty. Color coordinated, stamped, sealed and delivered to my fridge. It hangs up there as a reminder of my goals and need to focus on fitness, nutrition and whole body health. It’s also a daunting and overwhelming peek into the next 5 months of my life - seeing it out there, recognizing that I am consciously deciding to push myself into a fitness realm I’ve yet to find - well it makes me dizzy with anticipation and fear of failure. I LOVE checking the boxes after a workout complete, putting little smiley faces next to my mileage chart. At the same time, every workout missed gets a slash. Some training plans those slashes start to add up and weigh heavy on the mind. It messes with your psychological fitness level more than your physical one. Self doubt becomes the hungry bear in the arena. I am crossing my fingers for mostly checks, but that’s the beast of distance running. You just never know what the next day holds. There’s also a down-stretch that happens to me after getting my training plan. I’m not necessarily a “task oriented” person, and being told - even if it’s essentially by myself - that I am to do something sometimes sends me kicking and screaming in the opposite direction. So this week has been about trying to center myself, realize that even though the plan is long and entirely of my own design, there will still be time for fun, free, peaceful running. I will hopefully be setting up my physical self for feeling really, really great going into my late fall surgery. Part of me just wanted to sit on the couch all week and be lazy, knowing the build I’m about to enter, but the fit, the focused part of me grabbed my shoes and pounded the pavement anyhow. I ran on Tuesday with Conrad 8 miles. It was lovely. We chatted the whole run and I felt great at the end. I only got one other run in this week, but I feel confident about my rest and ready for this leap. Follow me as I jump off a new ledge~

Miles This Week: 12