I'm gonna give it a shot.

Training for a marathon that is.

With the Help of HCD (HardCoreDuathlete), or Andy from RM, I have a plan.

My planned marathon debut will be 5 November in Moncton, the Legs for Literacy Marathon.

There is the possibility that this dream/ goal will go nowhere as September and October are brutally full of workup training for deployment. But I will do what i can to meet the training requirements...si non...I will have a great 1/2 then...

Here is the plan.

Week of July 16 - 22

Sunday: 11-13K LSD
Tuesday: 4x Hills or 4x 1 mile repeats
Thursday: 20 minutes @ Tempo


Week of July 23 - 29

Sunday: 12-14K LSD
Tuesday: 4x Hills or 4x 1 mile repeats
Thursday: 25 minutes @ Tempo


Week of July 30 - August 5

Sunday: 13-15K LSD
Tuesday: 5x Hills or 5x 1 mile repeats
Thursday: 30 minutes @ Tempo


Week of August 6 - 13

Sunday: 15-17K LSD
Tuesday: 5x Hills or 5x 1 mile repeats
Thursday: 35 minutes @ Tempo


Week of August 14 - 20 (Fall Back Week)

Sunday: 11-13K LSD
Tuesday: 4x Hills or 4x 1 mile repeats
Thursday: 20 minutes @ Tempo


Week of August 21 - August 27

Sunday: 18-20K LSD
Tuesday: 5x Hills or 5x 1 mile repeats
Thursday: 35 minutes @ Tempo


Week of August 28 - September 2

Sunday: 21-23K LSD
Tuesday: 5x Hills or 5x 1 mile repeats
Thursday: 35 minutes @ Tempo


Week of September 3 - 9

Sunday: 23-25K LSD
Tuesday: 6x Hills or 6x 1 mile repeats
Thursday: 405 minutes @ Tempo


Week of September 10 - 16

Sunday: 25-27K LSD
Tuesday: 6x Hills or 6x 1 mile repeats
Thursday: 40 minutes @ Tempo


Week of September 17 - 23 (Fall Back Week)

Sunday: 12-14K LSD
Tuesday: 4x Hills or 4x 1 mile repeats
Thursday: 20 minutes @ Tempo


Week of September 24 - 30

Sunday: 27-29K LSD
Tuesday: 7x Hills or 7x 1 mile repeats
Thursday: 45 minutes @ Tempo


Week of October 1 - 7

Sunday: 28-30K LSD
Tuesday: 7x 1 mile repeats
Thursday: 50 minutes @ Tempo


Week of October 8 -14

Sunday: 32K LSD
Tuesday: 8x 1 mile repeats
Thursday: 55 minutes @ Tempo


Week of October 15 -21 (Fall Back Week)

Sunday: 13-15K LSD
Tuesday: 4x 800m and 4x 400m
Thursday: 30 minutes @ Tempo


Week of October 22 -28

Sunday: 32-34K LSD
Tuesday: 4x 800m or 4x 400 repeats
Thursday: 45 minutes @ Tempo


Week of October 29 - November 4

Sunday: 15K LSD
Tuesday: 45 minute Easy Run w/4-5x 30sec pickups
Thursday: 30 minute Easy run w/3-4x 20-30sec pickups


Week of November 5

Sunday: Marathon Day

A Rookie Runners Paradox.

Obviously I have not posted with great regularity as of late. Mostly as a result of my participation in a seven week course that begins the lead up to my deployment to Afghanistan in 07.

As I look at the history of my recent posts they are predominantly running based, and this shall be no exception. Though this will not be a race report but a commentary on running.

I begin by mentioning that I have been a runner for just shy of a year, and I have completed a couple 10k, one Half marathon, and participated in the CTRR. I do have some running goals for the future, CTRR 07, Full Marathon…etc. I feel comfortable in stating that running has become indoctrinated into my everyday life and is an official pastime.

However, during the aftermath of my last event I realized that my response to my results were, well, in a word…schizophrenic, or paradoxical. I am at once thrilled by the result; I felt I ran well, despite my belief I was not fully mentally prepared to run the event. I know that any running accomplishment that occurs these days trumps any previous running (with there is little of) and is becoming a second highlight reel in the history of Scotty’s Athletic Career. For these reasons I am content, I am happy, I am healthy.

However, it is when I compare the results of myself as an individual to those of the others who compete in the same event, or who are my age, and run similar events. As happy as I am with my running I am not ignorant of the fact that I consistently finish on the south side of half. And in no way what so ever am I a competitive runner. Which in itself, semantically, is a paradox because I am extremely competitive by nature.

This is where my problems begin I find myself discouraged by these truths. Before you think me insane I know I will never win an event I do not have the time, talent, or discipline to achieve this. I would simply like to be a “good” runner, on the north side of half…

I am at the same time proud that I achieved another PB on my latest 10k, yet realistic enough to know that it is only my third real 10k event, and I have likely yet to plateau so it is almost an unfair celebration.

The questions this leaves me with are:

Will I ever be faster? How fast can I be?
Is my running ability/ fitness still in its immaturity, and therefore hard to say?
How much faster would I be 15-20lbs lighter?

There are more questions but you get my gist…And I have no means by which to answer these questions.

The morale of this rambling monologue boils down to…I have some running goals, but I do not know how to temper my expectations.
I would hope that these are fears and questions that many new runners have experienced…and that there is some sage wisdom out there among the masses to allay these fears…

VOLUNTARY Army 10k

*fade from orange* This was a really odd run/ race/ event for me. Foreward (and forewarned) For one, when I arrived I realized “hm, I’m not really ready for this.” The past week went by in a blur and Saturday morning arrived in a rude heap. I must say I had the best of intentions of doing three weeks of disciplined runs to get myself in the mindset for this event after CTRR. Oops. Silly me shoulda thought a little bit harder on that one. Let’s see… Week one, I was in the Field. (It is amazing how hilarious a vicious thunderstorm, torrential downpour and category 4 winds can be at 0230 Wednesday night…) Week two, final exercise for the course I was on…did get a couple o’ runs in. Week three, house hunting trip / honeymoon in Moncton. One run… After my arrival, and then I finally realized I had to run in less than an hour. And I got nervous. And I did not know what to do. I had never gotten nervous before. Maybe it was the home field “advantage” I had. The run was going to be on the trails I train on. Maybe it was the fact that I felt maybe as an ARMY guy at the ARMY 10k I had to be ARMY-ish? or maybe it was the fact that the last time I did a 10k event on these trails it was a horrible experience. *cue transitional music* (sappy retrospective) The year was 2004, October. I was on my final phase training course when they came in and said. “Ok, everyone will be doing the Terry Fox 10km next week” I was a bit heavier, much less a runner and sat there in freshly soiled combats with a stunned look on my face. Great. It was as embarrassing as I thought it would be, gasp, wheeze, I sprinted I walked, gasp, I lumbered, and staggered across the finish line at 1:04:xx. But it was great (sarcastic) my course was waiting for me, and most of my friends were still there. To my credit I still came in closer to the middle than the back…well, ish. That run taught me something. I was fat. I had convinced myself I was in shape…(and on some comparative scales it was arguable that I was). Shorter after I joined Jaimer and Scadian on there Fredericton 2005 Half quest. Which lasted about ten runs, as I had an operation scheduled a month before the event, and I was terrified, overwhelmed, and a wuss. And stopped running. Fast-forward to August 2005, CAW finds RM, therefore, ergo, donc, Scotty finds RM. *cue transitional music* (finally…the point) Today: I warm up a little, slap a few bugs. I feel unprepared. I have no MP3, no Garmin, and no watch. Nada, well a snazzy retro headband…I was running on pure measured output. My previous best 10k was 53:38, back in March. I had had a whisper goal before of 50:00, seemed like a reasonable goal. But in essence I just hoped to mirror my previous result. With only 100 or so starters I had no problem seeding my self about 1/3 of the way back… It was just before the 2km marker when I had a funny moment, that is when I started to feel “yeah, ok, got my stride now, breathings good, I feel good, look out world I’m loose now!” Then I look up and see this kid streaking towards me, doesn’t even look old enough to shave…little bugger is already on his way back (doing the five). So I smiled, and shoved his 85lb frame as hard as I could into the bushes. Which got a chorus of cheers from behind me… I wish. I was still chuckling to myself at the 4 km mark; people must’ve thought I’d lost it. I had heard quite a few people, unfamiliar with the route nervously chattering about the “hilliness” of the course, and to some like me, it was moot as I didn’t find them that bad, but for anyone who focused their training on level ground…oops. At any rate I had no clue how I was doing, time wise. Physically I was maintaining a cruising pace somewhere below ‘vomit’, but above ‘comfortable’. I was stuck right around ‘stitch’. I nodded to Dan, high-fived Jaimer, smiled with Pete, and high-fived Kara. As I came into the last km mark, a spot I know very well, I decided to leave my spleen and pancreas on the course and go for it. As I came around the six-foot wall on the obstacle course I see the finish. Holy carp…I lumber my way to the line. 52:02. I tried so hard to shave 3 more seconds off, but the timer mocked me… Still, a PB is a PB. I am surprised, excited, and sore… I like those accomplishment that sneak up on you unawares and yell, “BOO!” and then giggle at you… *roll credits*