Boldly running where I've never gone before

I have been busy.  Crazy busy.  Relentlessly and most stressfully busy.  Too busy to write and almost too busy to run.  But I’ve been hanging in and getting on with the program.    And I am almost back.

Our weather has taken its annual turn toward winter with grey skies, chilly winds and blustering rain.  The water we needed all summer has finally turned up now, enthusiastically pelting my moribund garden and playing havoc with my outdoor training plans.  I’ve pretty much given up riding the bicycle outdoors which has put a big damper on my cross training efforts.  And the new computer system we’re using at work has increased my daily workload by probably 30%, an expenditure that has eaten up my free time like Gaian yar-bear after hibernation.  The amount of data entry that needs to be done and the length of time I have to do it are so inversely proportional that I find myself working all day seeing patients, then doing electronic charting at home until 10:00 pm and often another hour or so in the morning.

On top of that, I have a new part-time job which is demanding some extra time from me to learn their computer system and I lost 3 of my regular Tuesdays off this month as a result.  (Yeah, doctors aren’t all “rich”.  It costs so much money to run your own business that a lot of us have part-time jobs on the side).

So, the training has taken a bit of a hit this month.  I missed a 10-mile long run due to a rainstorm and, like I said above, the cross-training has disintegrated in a major way.  But I don’t believe I’ve significantly fallen backwards nor forfeited my readiness to do the 26.2 some 6 weeks from today.

Having wrapped my mind around the fact that I need to figure out a way to recapture those training hours between now and the marathon as well as do everything required of me to make a living, I am presently etching out a plan that will accomplish this.  I joined the local gym during their $10/month special recently, and I will just have to get out of bed early a couple days a week to go down there and use the spin bikes.  My final “lost Tuesday” is coming up this week.  I therefore simply must make November a killer month, and be ready to rock come December 8.

It can be done.  It must be done.  There will be life after a month in the labor camp!

Here’s how it all played out since my last post:

Week 6 – Intentionally a “light” week after taking the long run to 14 miles the week prior

Sun 9/23  —  walked with the dogs
Mon and Tues  —  rest days
Wed  —  3 mile easy run
Thurs  —  a few half-hearted abs/lower back sets
Fri  —  2 miles of speedwork; then headed off to the woods for a camping trip
Sat  —  Fun in the woods with a bunch of women; not too much exercise

Week 7 – Meant to be “back to the training plan” but I ended up getting sick and skipped the XT

Sun 9/30  —  Still camping:  did a lot of hiking but not running
Mon and Tues  — off sick with a cold
Wed  —  3 miles slow
Thurs  —  Orientation on the new job; no running
Fri  —  2 miles of speedwork (with a lot of coughing)
Saturday  — a 15 miler at race pace;  it was good even though I wasn’t 100% healthy yet

Week 8 – And the onslaught of work begins.  XT goes totally down the drain.

Sun 10/7  —  Rest day
Mon  —  very short bike ride; way too cold and windy outside!
Tues  —  All day computer training on the new job which, I might add is a 2 hours drive away from home (you heard me right:  that’s 4 hours round trip)
Wed  —  Ran 2 miles
Thurs  —  Worked away my morning workout time
Fri  —  Ran 4 miles
Sat  —  Storms all day; no running

Week 9 – Killed by work every evening and almost every morning.

Sun 10/14  —  Rained out my plans for a 10 miler; got 4 miles done
Mon  —  Worked in the morning instead of run
Tues  —  4 miles, then catching up on chores/errands
Wed  —  Worked my run time away
Thurs —  Speed intervals about 3.5 miles worth
Fri/Sat —  Travel to St. Louis via Springfield where I hung out with an old friend.

Week 10 – XT deficiency reigns supreme and sleep threatens to follow.

Sun 10/21  —  ROCK ‘N’ ROLL ST. LOUIS HALF-MARATHON, 13.1 miles of fun and music
Mon  —  Worked in the early hours of the morning
Tues  —  Another day of computer training on the new job; another lost training day
Wed  —  3 miles
Thurs  —  Another morning of work instead of running.
Fri  —  4 miles
Sat  —  a 12-hour shift on the new job = a 16 hour day including the commute; obviously no running got done

And that brings us up to today.  I ran 10 miles this morning.