I’m starting to think of myself as an inherently lazy runner.  How can someone that used to run 1,800-2,000 miles a year (sometimes more), and now runs about 1,400 miles per year be lazy?  Well, it’s the kind of miles I run.  Since I quit coaching, I rarely go to the track for intervals (speed work) and I rarely do fartleks.  Almost all of my miles are at a “comfortable” pace…  I’ve become the quintessential social runner.  I almost always run with at least one friend, and I train my masseter muscles as much as my quads, hammies, and calves!  🙂

Yesterday I started thinking about my running and what my goals are.  The bottom line is that I want to run forever!  Last year’s back injury made me realize that maybe I should cut out the marathons and stick to halves and shorter races.  Once I made the decision to focus on shorter races, I didn’t adjust my training other than cutting the distance on my Saturday long runs.

Enter the tempo run…  For whatever reason, last night an idea popped into my head.  I could leave our house and run 1.5 miles on our neighborhood trail at a comfortable warm-up pace to the the W&OD Trail.  Once on the W&OD, I would run 1.5 miles east and back at about my 10K pace.  After my fast little 3-miler, I would run an easy 1.5 miles back home, completing a nice 6-mile run.  This morning I ran it as planned and thoroughly enjoyed it!

After my fun little tempo run this morning, I decided to write down my running goals:

  1. Run forever
  2. Continue to work on my running form (huge improvement from last year)
  3. Become competitive in my age group at our local 5K’s
  4. Do a tempo run one day per week
  5. Run four to five days a week this summer
  6. Continue running socially at least two to three days per week
  7. Have fun and add in fartleks here and there

Perhaps I should take a moment to describe the different types of runs to the newbies and non-runners reading my blog:

  1. Easy – run at a comfortable pace which would allow for talking with a fellow runner (this one has my name written all over it)
  2. Tempo – running at a pace slightly slower (10-15 seconds) than 10K pace for the middle section of the run, between an easy 10-15 minute warm-up and 10-15 minute cool-down
  3. Fartlek – (stop giggling!) Swedish word for “speed play” describes running at many different paces during a run (easy, then pick up the pace for ~30 seconds, slow down to recover, repeat)
  4. Intervals – track workouts alternating fast repeats (200 meters, 400 meters, 800 meters, 1-milers) with shorter easy recovery runs
  5. Pace – running consistently at target race pace
  6. Long – running at a pace ~1-2 minutes per mile slower than target marathon pace

And because I can’t do a post without a lot of pictures, here’s a guided tour of my run to the W&OD Trial!  When I took this picture, I was standing on the back corner of our yard.  This little dirt path was worn by Bill, the boys, and me running from our yard to our neighborhood running trail.  The trail is hard to see, but it’s just on the other side of that sunny spot in the picture.

AFTrailToYard

If I take the mowed short-cut path, I can shave 30 seconds off my run to meet my BRF’s!

AFTrailFork

This is just one of several bridges crossing small creeks and streams in our neighborhood…

AFTrailBridge

I have one small road with pretty minimal traffic to cross on my way to the W&OD Trail.  I also have to run across a cul-de-sac at another point.

AFTrailToHayRoad

I have to do a little dirt trail running to cut from our neighborhood trail to the W&OD Trail.  I could run around and stay on paved trails, but this is more fun.  This is a little dry creek bed that I cross.

AFTrailToCreekBed

This picture was taken from the W&OD Trail looking back at the dry creek bed.

AFTrailToWOD

And just because I haven’t posted any flower pictures lately, and I thought these were pretty, and should share them.

AFTrailFlower

Looks like one of the local high school cross-country teams is keeping in shape during the summer!

WODTrailHSCCTeam

    • Questions:
    • What are your running goals, and do you adjust them often?
    • Do you do tempo runs?
    • What is your favorite type of run:  long, tempo, intervals, pace, fartleks?