I am nearing the end of Week 14 of my 24 Week Training Plan. I have been following Jack Daniels plan for 5k to 15 k racing. My main goal is to have one solid year of consistent training. In the spring I ran a 5K in 30:36 having not trained since Ironman AZ in November. Finally started training again in the end of June. I have been extremely conservative in adding to my weekly mileage. I started running 2 miles a day for the first 3 weeks (avg. of about 9 miles). I then moved up to 12, 16, 20, and now I am at about 25. I stayed at each level for 3 weeks before moving up. Monthly mileage totals:
June 20 miles
July 57 miles
Aug 34 miles (lost a week and a half to a cold)
Sep 67 miles
Oct 39 miles so far and it is only 10/13.
I am in Phase 3 of the plan so the speed work is a little tougher, but I am enjoying it.
Results are slowly improving. By the end of the summer I was running in the 27’s for the 5k. Had a nice race at the Twilight meet on Sept 29 finished 26:36. Came back last week at the South Mountain Classic and ran 25:58. So I am not crushing it, but I am happy with the progress. I still think my fastest times are ahead of me at all distances.
Since I am not coaching this year, I have had more time to train. Middle School has a later start than Elementary or High School, so I can get my training in the morning.
There are no big races on the horizon. I want to race everything in the ARR Grand Prix next year. I will either do another 24 week Jack Daniels plan or something out of “Build Your Running Body”.
On the immediate horizon is the Nike Southwest race in November and then I am going to test out my 10K fitness with the Mesa Turkey Trot.
theironpalm 