Chop, chop

There’s a pretty decent explanation as to why I haven’t updated my running blog in almost two months – I haven’t been running! Okay, that’s not entirely true. I haven’t taken two months off running. But I have been sidelined for almost three weeks now, and in the weeks leading up that, I was so busy preparing for being sidelined, I didn’t have time to update my blog.

For most of May and June, I simply ran (either outside or at the Y) four or five times a week. I really didn’t follow much of a training plan – just got out whenever I could. One thing I discovered is that if I don’t have a goal race to work toward, I’m not that great at being strict! Oh, I ran, did some speed work and hills once or twice, but nothing hardcore. I never ran longer than 8K either.

But I was pretty busy. I was booked to have surgery on June 20th, and knew that I would have to take three weeks off running, and at least a week off work. When you’re a self-employed freelance writer, taking time off is not quite as easy as it looks. Sure, I work from home – but that means I WORK from home, and there’s no one else to do my job. No one is going to step in and write those articles, or edit those magazines, or write those newsletters while I’m gone. So basically, I had to extra work to get myself ahead to be able to take a week off.

The surgery itself went well, but the surgeon is pretty strict on his no exercise rule. Three weeks minimum. I don’t want to open any incisions. (I’m too embarrassed to talk about it here, but suffice it to say it was NOT life-threatening surgery. But it will help improve my overall health and my running, and I can already say it was worth it.)

This Friday is the three week mark. I’m going to walk for a few days, and go for my first post-surgery run next Tuesday. I have already set myself a training schedule for the next three months. I’m basically going to re-do my 10K training, starting from scratch. That means short runs (3 to 6 K), working my way back up to hill training and speed work. I’m currently looking for a goal race in September (either a 5 or 10K) to keep me good.

Because in the fall, the real work starts. It’s time to move on and for me that means the half-marathon. I now have less than two years before my marathon goal, and I want to run at least two half-marathons before training for the full. I’m going to join the half-marathon clinic in the fall, with the goal of running the Chilly Half here in early March. (It fills up fast, so I will actually have to register before Christmas.) I think I can do it. Okay, I KNOW I can do it. I just need some determination.

Of course, throwing a wrench into the plans is that I have done something very necessary, but perhaps a bit foolish. Despite knowing that I work, on average, 40 to 60 hours a week, I somehow decided that it would be best to keep the boys home for the summer! Andrew’s in a lot of camps, I’ve done a lot of work ahead of time… but it’s still going to be crazy fitting it all in. How the big experiment will work remains to be seen. But I’m happy the boys are home. And they’re pretty good… I’ve been able to do some work while they play.

We will see how it goes. I admit to being pretty grouchy since I haven’t been able to run. Here’s looking forward to getting back to it next week!

Happy trails…