And it begins again.... The Chicago Plan

With San Diego behind me I now turn my sites on Chicago. I’ve taken this whole week off and am now ready to ease back into running. So I am officially declaring the breaks over… and non-to-soon!

Here’s the plan….

I’ve joined yet another running team. For those of you playing the home game I am now a member of three different groups. But I don’t anticipate running with the GR folks that much anymore, if at all.

Earlier this week I joined the Gazelle Running Team. I’m not abandoning my Lansing team; certainly I couldn’t do this without them, but will end up splitting time between the two.

Gazelle offers some perks that I can’t get with Playmakers. First, they are much closer (about 35 minutes) so I can make their weeknight runs without having to leave work early. They also do group speedwork on Tuesdays which is great because I don’t particularly enjoy doing speedwork, but recognize that it really helps. So running with other folks should help motivate me. Their culminating race is Chicago which is my next race, so all their programs are set up for Chicago, no adjustment needed. In about 6 weeks they’ll start a strength raining program using plyometrics and other workouts to help increase endurance and speed. Way cool! Lastly, they run on Saturdays so that will not conflict with Playmakers who runs on Sundays. This is awesome because I can choose each week when I want to do my long run, and will always have a group to run with, or I may decide to run with both teams as it looks like I will be training 5 days a week. Plus I really like running with Sheila in Lansing and since she’s also training for Chicago would not want to abandon my running partner.

So there you go, the plan is set. I’m sure it will change as I go along, but it’s good to be working towards a goal again. Woo Hoo!