I think I am going backwards.  Between work, the heat, and about 7 swim meets in the last 11 days, my running has gone down hill.  And not in the fun “Wheeeeeeee!” way.  My mileage has dropped off significantly and my long runs have ceased to exist.  But I have a plan……literally.

For Father’s day, Christine and the kids bought me a custom training plan from McMillan Running.  This will be a 20 week training plan written just for me and my goal to qualify for the Boston Marathon.  And using my engineering ingenuity, I have deducted that the 20 weeks will start on July 19th.   Wow.  That is a mere 3 weeks from now!

Most of the people reading this site will find it hard to relate to what I am talking about.  Unless you have had a super aggressive personal trainer who pushed you on a daily basis or you have trained for a long distance endurance event with a structured training plan, you probably won’t see my fear.  Right now, I am training using the 1960′s “free love” method.  Wherever the wind blows me and whatever turns me on that day, I do.  And that works fine as long as you have no set goal or deadline.

With a structured plan, you wake up each day and read the plan.  And then after crying for a short while, you get to it.  Okay, in my usual fashion I am exaggerating a bit.  But not by much.  Most of the workouts, even the painful ones, I find a way to enjoy.  Some workouts I hate when I read them, hate when I start them, and usually hate the way I finish them.  But I always know I am working in the right direction.  And that is what I need right now.

So now I am ready to reverse course….again.  And hopefully this time it will be in the correct direction.