Why I Run So Much
Welcome to my new running blog. I thought I would start out with a post about why I run. Oh, let me count the reasons….
1) It’s good for my physical health
2) It’s good for my mental health
3) It makes me happy
4) It forces me to behave (you can’t go out boozing with your co-workers after work if you have to wake up at 4:30 a.m. the next day to run)
5) It allows me to fulfill my competitive spirit (I have already run in 18 races this year!)
6) It gives me time to sort out my thoughts
7) It gives me a chance to work toward a goal (right now my goal is running next year’s Boston Marathon in under 3:00)
I am sure if I sat here for awhile I could think of several more, but that’s a good start.
The next 6 months I will be using this blog to chronicle my efforts to run next year’s Boston Marathon in under 3 hours. This is a lofty goal for several reasons, mainly because my PR and BQ time was 3:19, so I will have the shave about 20 minutes off that time to break the magical 3-hour barrier. However, I am in much better shape now than I was then, and as recently as last Saturday I ran a sub-3-hour marathon equivalent time in the Lakefront Discovery Run 15K (59:26). So if I work my booty off the next 6 months, crossing the Boston finish line in under 3 hours is attainable. Wish me luck!
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Posted by Chris on Wednesday, October 31st, 2007 at 3:57 pm and is filed under Run.
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3 Comments: :
Why I Run So Much
October 31st, 2007 9:24 pm
Brad Hefta-Gaub says:
Welcome to Sweat365! Here’s wishing you luck!
November 1st, 2007 12:02 am
Brad Hefta-Gaub says:
By the way, I’d love to hear more about the plan you are following.
I am in the process of trying to qualify for Boston. I need to run a 3:15 marathon, which is 42 minutes faster than my current PR. BUT… that PR included walking the last 3.2 miles on a broken foot. Before mile 23 I was on a 3:30 pace. I’ve run 2 other marathons as part of the 2 Ironman distance races I’ve run. But I’ve not yet run a solo marathon without a broken foot.
Since I have a pretty solid cardio base, I’m focusing my run training on speed sessions. So my routine is 2 speed sessions (mile repeats, Yasso 800s, or Tempo) and 1 long run a week. The rest of my training is cross training (mostly cycling).
I look forward to hearing more about your training routine. Obviously a 3:00 marathon is quite a goal!
November 1st, 2007 8:27 am
goalrunner says:
Thanks for welcoming me to the community. I’m glad to be here. I’ve been blogging on Blogger for the past two years, but like this much better after just one day.
If I can qualify for Boston, anyone can! I was never a standout runner or athlete, but through hard work I have made it to Boston! When it comes to running, it truly is hard work that gets you where you want. Also, staying healthy is important.
As for my training routine, I used to use the FIRST program, which is similar to what you are doing, where I was doing one speed workout, one tempo run and one long run each week, and then some cross-training workouts on the other days.
Now I am all about the miles. I do 10 miles on Monday at a medium pace, 10 miles on Tuesday with a speed workout in the middle (400, 800, 1200 or 1600 repeats), cross-train on Wednesdays on my air bike, 10 miles on Thursday with a tempo run in the middle, 10 miles on Friday at a slow pace, and then a long run (15 miles this week) on Saturday, usually at a hard pace (7:15 to 7:45).
I have slowly been adding miles, at a rate of 1 mile per week, to my base. By the time I start Boston training the first of the year, I will be at 60 miles per week, and will build that up to 75 miles before I taper. Hopefully I can stay injury-free through all of this, but I have my doubts!
Let me know if you need any help with your training schedule. I am going to check out your blog when I am done with this. Thanks again for the nice comments.