the scene
well, i haven't updated in a while....
they say you should only make 1 major life change in a year (whoever 'they' are) but we/i went ahead and did two. obviously, the first was on-boarding boy number two to the family. it was rough at first, but we are settling in. actually, right around the time that things were getting a little more comfortable i went ahead and started a new job. i am the quality control lab manager and unlike my previous 13+ professional years we actually make something. working in the manufacturing has been an adjustment to say the least - and switching to a company where i am it has been a little stressful. through it all (and with the immense support of my wife) i have been able to balance a very involved family life and 50+ hours a week at the new job. i have even found some time to stay active and somewhat fit. i have been very diet conscious and that has helped me reach race weight even though my fitness/speed are nowhere close.
with all this time and effort focused on the important stuff i seem to have fallen out of my circle of biking friends. this cycle kind of repeats itself - go away and do real life stuff for a while (the years of grad school and calvin were similar) and you are out of the loop. inevitably, i find things to draw my focus that are purely individual in nature - triathlon or marathon running come to mind. and, for the latter, remain on my mind. i need a physical outlet - and i need an athletic goal to push me out the door when motivation is low or i'm not feeling great. biking isn't doing it for me - events get canceled, rescheduled, etc., to be competitive you need to invest a lot of time and i need to be able to plan at this phase of our lives.
so, i'm doing another marathon. i still need to get under 3 hours and i'm not getting any younger. fall marathons haven't panned out for me in the past so i'm focusing on a spring (or early summer) race. initially, i thought that i might run eau claire for purely nostalgic reasons but the timing (early may) conflicts with some madison classics that would be very good spring boards to a late june marathon (monona 20k and syttende mai 20 miler come to mind). plus, i want to do a bigger race with friends around me so grandma's is the obvious choice.
i'm older now and even when i was younger my approach hasn't been successful so i'm going to mix it up. 10 day cycles with a lot of off days - but key workouts and a longer max long run are components that i'm going to try. actually, the key workouts during the pre-race cycles will be: 1 long run building to a max of 24 miles, 1 medium distance run building to a max of 15 or 16 miles, 1 threshold workout, 1 speed workout and a trail run. in the past, i tried to run too frequently which led to my body breaking down. the cycles mentioned above will start in early to mid march...until then, i need to build my mileage slowly and steadily. we are doing fat tire this year and some cross racing but i'd like to start building my long and medium long runs mid fall - october or early november. that will work well with the racing that time of the year (and will help me stay fit as the daylight disappears). i'm racing single speed this year also with the idea that it will be a similar to running in that if you want to go faster you need to move your legs faster. anyway, this structure won't maximize my potential but i'm hoping it'll get me below 3 hours healthy.
anyway, i'm still working on the details. 1 goal is to do a better job of logging my workouts this year so i'll probably use strava and link it here. also, i might just give this little corner of the world a face lift as my blog looks pretty outdated. my goal for just about everything in life these days is simplification - so my hope is that this will reflect that goal.
anyway, i have a window to train today and i'm eating into it so i better go do that. all this talk of running would make one think i'm heading out for a nice long run - but biking is on the schedule for today (fat tire prep).
happy sunday.
they say you should only make 1 major life change in a year (whoever 'they' are) but we/i went ahead and did two. obviously, the first was on-boarding boy number two to the family. it was rough at first, but we are settling in. actually, right around the time that things were getting a little more comfortable i went ahead and started a new job. i am the quality control lab manager and unlike my previous 13+ professional years we actually make something. working in the manufacturing has been an adjustment to say the least - and switching to a company where i am it has been a little stressful. through it all (and with the immense support of my wife) i have been able to balance a very involved family life and 50+ hours a week at the new job. i have even found some time to stay active and somewhat fit. i have been very diet conscious and that has helped me reach race weight even though my fitness/speed are nowhere close.
with all this time and effort focused on the important stuff i seem to have fallen out of my circle of biking friends. this cycle kind of repeats itself - go away and do real life stuff for a while (the years of grad school and calvin were similar) and you are out of the loop. inevitably, i find things to draw my focus that are purely individual in nature - triathlon or marathon running come to mind. and, for the latter, remain on my mind. i need a physical outlet - and i need an athletic goal to push me out the door when motivation is low or i'm not feeling great. biking isn't doing it for me - events get canceled, rescheduled, etc., to be competitive you need to invest a lot of time and i need to be able to plan at this phase of our lives.
so, i'm doing another marathon. i still need to get under 3 hours and i'm not getting any younger. fall marathons haven't panned out for me in the past so i'm focusing on a spring (or early summer) race. initially, i thought that i might run eau claire for purely nostalgic reasons but the timing (early may) conflicts with some madison classics that would be very good spring boards to a late june marathon (monona 20k and syttende mai 20 miler come to mind). plus, i want to do a bigger race with friends around me so grandma's is the obvious choice.
i'm older now and even when i was younger my approach hasn't been successful so i'm going to mix it up. 10 day cycles with a lot of off days - but key workouts and a longer max long run are components that i'm going to try. actually, the key workouts during the pre-race cycles will be: 1 long run building to a max of 24 miles, 1 medium distance run building to a max of 15 or 16 miles, 1 threshold workout, 1 speed workout and a trail run. in the past, i tried to run too frequently which led to my body breaking down. the cycles mentioned above will start in early to mid march...until then, i need to build my mileage slowly and steadily. we are doing fat tire this year and some cross racing but i'd like to start building my long and medium long runs mid fall - october or early november. that will work well with the racing that time of the year (and will help me stay fit as the daylight disappears). i'm racing single speed this year also with the idea that it will be a similar to running in that if you want to go faster you need to move your legs faster. anyway, this structure won't maximize my potential but i'm hoping it'll get me below 3 hours healthy.
anyway, i'm still working on the details. 1 goal is to do a better job of logging my workouts this year so i'll probably use strava and link it here. also, i might just give this little corner of the world a face lift as my blog looks pretty outdated. my goal for just about everything in life these days is simplification - so my hope is that this will reflect that goal.
anyway, i have a window to train today and i'm eating into it so i better go do that. all this talk of running would make one think i'm heading out for a nice long run - but biking is on the schedule for today (fat tire prep).
happy sunday.
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