Scottless schedule!

First off I want to thank all of you who were open enough to provide so many words of encouragement and support while I ventured into the unknown world of bodies. It truly makes stepping out of our box easier when others are there to add valuable comments and encouragement even though it's not their gig. THANK YOU!

As you know I wasted no time getting back to what I love to do and that's run on trail. Since I have been coached by Scott for the last 3 years it's been easy to find my way back to a schedule because I was accountable to him. I work well when I have a detailed plan. I can stay extremely disciplined and in control. But.....without a schedule I am sort of a loose cannon. I am going to coach myself! The first thing I have realized about my client (ME) is that she NEEDS a schedule and needs one ASAP before she hurts herself. Okay enough 3rd person....maybe. I have run everyday since Sunday. No big deal, it's only Thursday...right. Well I have gotten myself so incredibly sore I have to take a day off from running tomorrow. My quads are sore, my calf's are sore and my hamstrings have no idea what hit them. All of this is good soreness but if I don't get a handle on myself soon it's not going to be pretty. My knee is fine but it let me know today that my medial quad is sooooooo sore and tight that I better work it out before I hit any real descents. I can't get enough of the trails and the lovely fall leaves. Fall and Spring are my favorite seasons in Portland. My first day on the trails I seriously almost got choked up I was so happy to be out there. Completely silly but true. This true break has really got me hungry which leads to my current problem......self control. The great news is I have thrown in a bit of tempo work to get a base line and it wasn't bad nearing 7:30's. My cardio is still good from all the incline walking. Of course I am sure my threshold area is poop right now but that's normal when coming back anyway. Overall I am pleased with my starting point but am shocked at how sore I am. :)

While Alex was at baseball practice (2.5 hours) I started working on my running schedule. I have learned so much in the last 3 years from Scott it should be easy to draw it up, right? Well, what I found was I just kept bumping things so fast I had myself running nearly 120 miles a week by mid January....not gonna happen. So, back to the drawing board and this time I created formulas to drive the workouts and progressions. My old finance days do come in handy here and there. So far it's coming along but I still have myself ramping quickly. I will keep at it but this is much harder than I thought it would be. I wonder if I will be so disciplined when I only have myself to answer to? I sure hope so because the value of good training plan and one that's followed is the only thing that keeps me progressing.

I am almost done wear testing the NB trail shoes shown above. I am super picky about my trail shoes which I am sure most of us are. These are really great shoes and I like them a lot. I have had only 5 runs in them but hit a lot of good terrain, rocky, smooth and some mud. They perform nicely on it all. I haven't taken them to the gorge yet but will in the next few days. That will be the real test. With my wide forefront and high instep fit is a big deal but these shoes have a lot of mechanisms for solid adjustments.