February is perhaps the quietest running month in the Twin Cities. The lead up to the Frozen Half is in the rearview mirror and the St. Patrick's Day races are well beyond the horizon. What a great time to gear and train hard.
I met my End-of-January goals and to be honest, the mileage goals were much tougher than the race goals. The weather should continue to cooperate from here on out. So I mapped out my goals for February and was at first surprised to see just how similar they were to Chad Austin's. But then I thought about it a bit more and it shouldn't be that surprising. Our plans are common sense. And we've both been doing this for a long time and have reached a point in their racing life that prioritizes staying healthy over running fast. So a Jack Danielsien approach to base training and hills over fartleks and the track makes sense.
So here are my February goals.
This was done by design. After my mileage build-up, the Frozen Half, and ongoing flirtation with sciatica, I needed a week where a I ran only when I felt like it. For me, that meant running three days, good for about 20 miles.
Week One: Sixty miles with one hill workout (four dam hills) and 20+ miles on Saturday and Sunday.
Week Two: Sixty-five miles with one hill work out (six dam hills) and 20+ miles on Saturday and Sunday.
Week Three: Seventy miles with one hill workout (eight dam hills) and 25+ miles on Saturday and Sunday.
Week Four: Sixty miles with a little workout I call Hills 1-2-3 midweek.
Better get to bed so I can get up early for tomorrow morning's hill workout. Boo.
Until then, check out Steve's latest post. That's a lot of ink I'm getting there. This will be a fun year. I haven't a rivalry this friendly since these guys were blogging. Of course, Steve is running out of my league and my win over him at the Frozen Half was a fluke of his underestimating his fitness more than I underestimated mine. But I do believe I can train my way back to his level. But I know he too is training for the level beyond that. We'll see where this year takes us.
