Fabulous Fall

It's funny how quickly one forgets things. And by one, I mean me. It was only a few short weeks ago when I outlined my goals for the coming year. And already, I've thrown all goals out the window in my approach to my training. Oops.

So I reviewed my previous post in order to remind myself what it was I had hoped to accomplish when my brain was not intoxicated on this thing called running. Turns out, I hadn't planned on running a marathon until May once Nike was finished. So why am I penciling uber long runs into my training schedule, forgoing the bike?

It's my equivalent of spring fever. Why the calendar rolls to October, my mind (which still lives in the grassy green Midwest by the way) believes that it's time to run. I imagine the crisp autumn air. The sound of leaves crunching beneath my feet. As the days get shorter, and the air cooler, my breathe in rings of fog at a tempo that matches my footfalls. Fall is the best time of year to run (everywhere except here that is). I want to be out there. Fall is football season. It's sweater time. It's time to throw on a pot of chili and curl up with a good book. And fall is time to run. Run fast. Run far. In the fall I can throw on a pair of my favorite capris and run. In the fall I worry less about sunscreen cause the sun's not up yet, and won't be for hours. In fall I imagine the gray cloudy skies that threaten rain, in the air that's just shy of cold enough for snow. Spring smells like flowers, fresh cut grass. Fall is organic. It has a fresh smell of decaying leaves and soil (which is a really great scent if you've never had the pleasure of living in farm or forest country). Fall is amazing. It inspires me. Spring brings renewal and goals, Fall brings turnover and change. Uncluttering. Simplifying. Fall is cozy and comforting like a warm cup of my favorite coffee.

So I guess, in my defense, I got a little carried away with the changing of the season and planned to just run into infinity. After taking a step back, I realize that this doesn't support my long term goals. So, sticking with my original plan, I'm going to get through Nike and my post marathon recovery phase. Then, beginning in November I will focus on the bike. I'm going to keep my run mileage the same, but focus on quality not quantity. So I'll be doing long runs, alternating tempo and track workouts for speed, and some hill workouts. But instead of the easy runs on all the in between days, I'll be on the bike. And I love, love, love to swim so I can never give that up completely. But I've found it takes very little for me to maintain my swim fitness so until I start the buildup for CDA, I'll keep the swims to 2500-3000 meters a couple times a week.