Thursday, February 08, 2007

Looking for ideas

I've been having a few second thoughts and regrets as I review my upcoming race and training schedule. I have a big, glaring hole from March to mid-April and I'm mad at myself for not giving Chuckanut serious consideration before registration closed. I've also had a few doubts about the Eugene Marathon. I'm already registered and I do think it will be fun to run in the inaugural race. But was it the right race considering the other races I could be doing around that time? I'm seriously considering the 30k at Peterson Ridge since I don't think I could handle the 60k just 2 weeks before Eugene. Or maybe I could? Eugene is going to be just for fun. I want to give it a good effort, but right now its not a priority as a race.

I'm also trying to figure out a way to get some more mileage into my schedule. Right now I'm just barely making it past 40 on some weeks. I'd like to make 35-40 my drop-back minimum and push it up to 50. Last week's schedule looked like this:

Mon: Weights
Tues: 5
Wed: 7
Thurs: 5
Fri: Weights, Yoga
Sat: 17
Sun: 7
Total mileage: 41

All of my workouts are in the mornings (except yoga at lunch). I just can't see myself getting in any sort of workout on a regular basis in the evenings. I do have other things I like to do and family, of course, to consider. Tuesdays and Thursdays I run a regular route with friends so I'd have to start earlier to add in more mileage. I actually already do that on Tuesdays. I'm working on pushing up the Wednesday mileage and would like to get that up to 10-12 by summer. And I can add some more mileage, of course, on the weekends. This Saturday's run will be 23, for instance. In the past I've run on Friday mornings, but I'm seeing good results from sticking to a regular weight schedule and I'm reluctant to give that up just yet.

So...I'm open to ideas!...specifically, any trail race suggestions in Oregon or Washington for March to early April. I'm also looking for something in June. And ideas on how to build my mileage would be great too!

12 comments:

Olga said...

Definitely Ramble 30k, definitely!!! It's an awesome run! Sadly, local scene is quite empty for March-April unless you want to drive 4 hrs, what I assume you don't. May be I could put a fun run FA type on first weekend of April? I had been thinking about it. Ideas on course?
Anyhow, if you add Tues and Thur to 6M and extend Wed to 11M, plus add a longer run on Sun you'll be in high mile territory in no time. I agree with having one day for yoga-weight routine, don't get extra running day, add extra miles on existing days. May be a short recovery run on Mon if time allows.

seagull junker said...

Yea, do PRR. Sean puts on a great race. But get ready to run the whole darn thing. All runnable climbs.

Plus, you get to take a shower at the school afterwards. Cool for a trail race.

Adding more miles just means one thing, more time out of the house. Plain and simple. You just have to figure out how to juggle really well.
good luck,
tom

Kim said...

I don't have any advice for runs out west, but if you figure out how to get more mileage in, let me know! I should be running more miles, but I just can't get it there yet.
Now, if I was a faster runner, it would take less time to cover more miles..

teacherwoman said...

I haven't gotten into trail races, as they are limited in my neck of the woods... but they are definitely something I would like to try!! Good luck!

Anonymous said...

oh man, i have no advice. but i'm interested in seeing what you do - both race and training wise!

Ryan said...

Your running schedule looks really good, very consistent compared to mine. The only way I manage more mileage in a given week is running 2x or 3x a day but with this cold weather we've been having around here I find it hard to run at all. That race Olga mentioned sounds fun...good luck with everything!

Rick Gaston said...

I would extend the Saturday runs. Most of my mileage comes from the weekend. My schedule right now looks like this and the Run part won't change much during the season.

Mon - Rest
Tue - Track
Wed - 5 to 6 mile recovery run
Thu - Spin + 5k treadmill run
Fri - 5 to 6 mile recovery run
Sat - Bike ride
Sun - 20 to 36 mile long run.

Unknown said...

Well since I tell Michelle the same thing, all though I do know her much better, I would be willing to bet that you are capable of doing the 60K at Peterson and Eugene a couple weeks later. It's all a matter of getting past that stage of thinking that you can't.

maniac hippo said...

Hi Sarah, I'm a long time lurker and fellow local maniac (#207).

Another possibility is Mt Si the week before Eugene. Not the most awesome fit but...

Rick Gaston said...

oops I missed the weird things about you post. Seriously 4 logs yet writing down what you eat is tedious!:)

Darrell said...

I'm starting to feel lazy with you all added long races before Eugene. But hey, why not, what have you got to lose?

Anonymous said...

I'm here to say it's all relative! I'm trying to get to 12 miles/wk consistently and am having a hard time at that right now! So your goal kinda cracks me up. But, as others have said, if you just can tack on a few miles to each of your existing runs you should be good to go!

I'm very impressed with your consistency Sarah. That gets you farther than anything!