Table for pity, party of 1, and a plan

I don't quit. Not ever. Not in life and certainly not in running.

That was, until last night.

I had 5x800 on the plan, and I spent the entire day oddly excited to go home and get working. I was going to run alone - alone alone. The sun was shining. And, I had a genius plan: I mapped a 0.85-mile loop in my neighborhood so that I could leave my water in the driveway and make a pit stop after each repeat.

I managed to get off work early and I bounded into the house, throwing on a pair of shorts and a tank, my sassy new Brooks hat and my MOTOACTV. Finally, I was going to get to do it.

I started off with a slow half-mile warmup before getting into the workout. The warmup was a bit heavy but that was to be expected. I was sure that my legs would loosen up by the time I got going. Even though I could set up a workout, I opted to just keep an eye on my watch. When it said 0.50 mile, I was off.

Sort of.

It was hard. Harder than I expected. After a quarter-mile, I just wanted to be done. When I reached my house a bit earlier than anticipated, I took a break for water/caught my breath. I finished the repeat and followed it with a quarter-mile recovery jog. I tried to pump myself up, thinking that I just needed one repeat to get going.  And before I knew it, I was off on repeat two.

For the sake of brevity, I am going to interrupt this post to tell you that repeats two and three didn't go any better and repeats four and five never happened. I quit. Quit, quit, quit. Instead, I opted to just do five miles (I was at 2.5). The remainder of the run was a battle of mind and body, and no one won.

When I got home, I couldn't stop myself from being upset, frustrated and a bit melodramatic. I have become so jealous of other mother-runners who blog about PRs and marathons, and I can't even do a track workout. I am not making significant gains in speed and my base doesn't feel strong. "What am I doing wrong?" I asked myself over and over as I cleaned up. "All I want to do is become a better runner."

Ding, ding, ding!

"The only way to get better at running is to run," a wise man told me just after my first half marathon. I was working on an article for work, and I had inquired whether second-time half marathoners should incorporate speed work. He was a bit hesitant and instead suggested adding mileage. I was a bit deflated - I wanted to go to the track - but I listened to what he said. I switched up my schedule, making my "bonus" run a mid-week long run. It went from 3 miles to a 10K and my weekly mileage went from 20 to 25+ miles. In three months (not even), I ran a 5K PR and cut 15+ minutes off my half time. With no speedwork.

So that's what I'm going to do. I am going to quit the defeating repeats and tempo runs, and I am going to add more miles. Instead of doing strength work on "Mommy needs alone time" night, I'll be doing longer runs with the dog. (Don't worry - I'm still going to do strength but more than likely it will be a Jillian DVD after Miles goes to bed.) I am going to focus on 25-mile weeks (as life permits), getting strong and see where it takes me.

While the plan isn't magic, I feel refreshed that I will be making strides (hah! strides!) in what I think will be the right direction.

Do you re-evaluate training plans? When do you incorporate speed work?

There goes my hero: A giveaway

Can you feel it?

The heat.

 The heat from you tearing up the Hero Rush course.

Hero Rush is a race through a 5k+ course of heroic (and unique!) obstacles — slide, climb, get wet, get lost, get WETTER, make some saves and a ton more.

  

Or, as I like to think, it's the next thing to come to adventure racing. (Note: I am not sure if the term "adventure racing" is correct as I just made it up. But I like it. Feel free to use it.)

The race, which is in its inaugural year, will be making stops all across the country. Minnesota, Texas, Los Angeles, Oregon, Illinois, Florida. Heck, there's even one in my neck of the woods. With each stop, participants will get the chance to take on:

• Dispatch Descent When the bell rings, the Rush is on .. head up to the top of the pole and take a slide down, it’s time to Respond!
• Mazed and Confused It’s dark, surrounded by cries for help (and more), will you escape?
• Dummy Draggin’ You’ve got the victim, now get ‘em out just like a real hero!
• Stretcher Evac Find a buddy for this one (unless you’re super strong), save the day and get ‘em to the Chopper M*A*S*H style! (* Actual helicopter not included)
• Hose Advancin’ Can you stretch the line quick enough to make an impact?
• Foam Adventure You’re gonna get a little sloppy on this one
• Towerin’ Inferno – Raining Stairs A surprise obstacle that will test your up and over skills to the max
• HazMat Zone Could be slimy, could be smelly, could be a combination!
• Fire Truck Tackle Fire trucks may block your path, how you gonna get through to save the day?
• Smoke Jumper The next best thing to jumping out of an airplane into the inferno
• Entanglement One of the biggest dangers to real firefighters — getting caught and not being able to get out.

There's also a Midway, where you and your crew can be a Hero and practice their firefighter skills on fiery obstacles (14 and older only), live demonstrations and experiences, and kid’s course options. There’s also music, food and drinks and shopping. Oh, and the opportunity of seeing some fine men in uniform. Or at least I hope.

And you get to enjoy it all ... for free. Well, one of you. The folks at Hero Rush are kindly offering one Healthy Strides reader a free entry. To any one of the races.

To enter the giveaway, like Hero Rush on Facebook and leave me a comment that you did so.

Giveaway runs from March 27 to April 3, ending at midnight EST.   Entries after that will be considered null. The winner will be chosen via Random.org and will be announced Wednesday April 4. Winner is responsible for contacting me hlthystrides at gmail dot com by Monday, April 9, or a new winner will be chosen.