It's Just One Run...

I actually find myself a little nervous about the morning's run. I'll be back in my current trainers... the heavier shoes than I've worn for the last two 30-minute runs. They are probably the most "cushioned" left of the shoes I have.

My next two weeks are a little dependent on how tomorrow goes. I know what I have in mind, should all go well. Actually, let me re-phrase that. I don't need a 100% pain-free run tomorrow. I just need it to not get worse as the run goes on, but to get better. If the Achilles is tight to start out, that's fine. I'm fine with being forced to start slowly and ease into it. But I'm looking forward to the loosening up that happens with each passing step.

As of this coming Sunday, there are 14-weeks till the Twin Cities Marathon. That's 2 weeks of full-on taper, leaving me 12-weeks. I'm convinced I need 10-good solid weeks of goal-oriented training. That means I have 2-weeks of a grace period.

Should this run go well, I'll take the next week to get mileage, but no hard workouts. Down to a one-week grace period. So, if the run DOES NOT go well, I have one-more week to get healthy before I believe I start loosing truly valuable training time. This journey to the Trials has been broken down into segments.

First is this segment between now and Twin Cities. I really want a full cycle of training here to get ready for a majorly fast time that takes me into uncharted territory.

After Twin Cities, there are just about 4 full months till the Chevron Houston Marathon. That gives me 3-4 weeks to recover, then another 9-10 weeks to strengthen for Houston. This will be pretty critical, as recovery and race-prep will be short... just under 4 months. If I can actually improve between those two, that will be huge. That is the goal.

After Houston, there are 8 months to Chicago. There is the possibility for another marathon in there... something in the Spring. Or, if I get the training right, I can run one in August if I can find a cooler one up north somewhere, but I haven't looked into that at this point. Then, comes the final stretch for Chicago. I really have every intention of making the final 12-16 weeks to Chicago the most intense that I have put myself through. Do whatever my body can handle, hopefully, having someone to train with and brutalize at the same time, that way we just beat the heck out of each other. Then, spend 3 weeks or so in "recovery" and get ready to lay it down at Chicago.

I have contingency plans, but this is the main one. Will it happen this way? I don't know, but if there is one thing I HAVE learned in my 34 years of life is that life is what happens to you when you're making other plans.

So, we shall see. We all know... it's not in my hands...it's in HIS...