Catch Up & Fall Plans

Hello! Back at it.

I know we haven't caught up in a while, but to be honest, I took all of June off. I did what I pleased. It ended up being 105km of running and 167km of cycling (and 1k of swimming. HA!).

I've struggled a bit with motivation for the fall and couldn't plan anything until I understood what my rep hockey playing son's early season tournament would be.

Dressing room shot after winning the 2015 Novice AE Championship

Now that we know the first tournament will take place in early September, I decided to return to Niagara and use it as a goal half marathon race this time around (I've raced it as my goal race in 2012 and as a pacer in 2014). I decided on this race because it is the one that both Emma and Sam wanted to do.

The goal, will be to PB at sub 1:45.

My training plan is a repeat of 2013 when I was in the best shape of my life;the Jack Daniels training method. This time, I will not be able to run with Sam as she will be training for different things before the half in October. Thus, I will have no one to help me push through those long runs with quality in the middle of them.

Rather than being depressed about this (I'm lying, I've had more than a few moments), I've decided to see the lack of training partners as a positive light. I need help with my mental game and no one can do this for me except for me. Running the hard paces as demanded by Daniels alone should help me get my game together. I also need to remember that I CAN do these workouts; I've done them before.

I've decided not to return to the marathon until I can race a sub 1:45 and race a sub 2:35 at Around the Bay. As my primary running goal remains qualifying for and running the Boston Marathon, I expect that the motivation will be strong to make both of these times in 2015/16. Let's just hope my health stays as is and I do not get injured.

My fall plan starts next week. I have penciled in 4 runs, with two quality sessions and at least one 20k bike. I may also swim one night and hope to get to a weight lifting class once a week as well (workload permitting - I take these during lunch).

Finally, I hope to get back to more regular blogging, so stay with me through the summer of "The Other Jack Daniels" plan 2.0 and I hope to provide some kind of entertainment, insight or perhaps just entertaining photos.