I have been using the Hansons Half Marathon training method in case you have not read about it here before (hehehehe).

Gee I might have mentioned using it a few times over the past few months.

Anyways, I started this whole Hansons Method thing, back in January with the idea in the back of my mind that I would be running a surprise Spring marathon or to prepare a good base for running a Fall one.

While I have been able to follow and love the Hansons training methods, I am not able to keep up the cumulative fatigue that is a part of the training. It negatively effects too many other parts of my life and I am not that passionate about needing to race either the marathon or half marathon to let it impact my life that much.

So guess what – I probably ain’t racing either distance this year.

Am I disappointed at all about not running or training for marathon or a half marathon after using the Hansons Half Marathon training plan through week 13?

In a word – nope.

Passion or Not?

Speaking of being passionate, I read the Passion Paradox when it was released and it got me to really look at my marathon dream and whether I really need/want to run one. When I did that – what it comes down to is that in reality I am rather ambivalent about running a full or even a half marathon.

Racing those distances just are not really that important to me.

Which is not how one needs to feel about either of those races which both require: time, effort, desire and yes passion to get to the starting line.

What are my passions about my running?

1. Simply running first and foremost.
2. Trying new or different gear – yeah, that includes running shoes, tech gear, etc.
3. Blogging about my feeble attempts to become a better runner
4. Reading and learning more about running.

Those are my passions and what I do most of the time, with my time.

Running

Honestly, I love to run, be around runners and run faster (for me at least). However, I have also found over the last few years that racing is not really my thing, I have always had issues with race anxiety, but now it is more I don’t want to deal with everything that goes along with going to a race. While I enjoy challenging and pushing myself, hell I even like the hard stuff when training, I just don’t enjoy the actual race day crap that I have to go through in my own head to get to the starting line.

Also I don’t like the person I become when I start to take racing too seriously. I ain’t that good a runnah, never was and that ain’t gonna change any time soon, so when I start getting delusions of grandeur, it makes me into something that I ain’t.

Running then becomes a chore and the enjoyment I get out of it is lost due to “having” to do this or do that to be “that” runner.

So I doubt you will see too many race recaps from me this year and if you do they will most likely be about a shorter, smaller race, somewhere locally.

New Training Idea

That said, I do like to race once in a while, but the 5K is the distance I prefer. Well actually I think the mile would be cool too, but I would really have to train differently for that distance, although I might find one at some point this year, just to see how I do in one.

Since I have pretty much decided that my focus at least through the 4th of July will be the 5K, I have put together a 5K training plan that uses some of the Hansons Method ideas.

Hopefully this will be a good enough plan to get me ready to run around a 21:00 minute time at the Winthrop 4th of July 5K. Anything under 21:21 would be a post age 55 personal best and since my best 5K in the last year was 22:36, I am looking for quite an improvement.

Now I have a goal, a goal race and a date to shoot for, which are all good things.

Looking at the training plan, it should be good training cycle, challenging but within my ability to accomplish at this point in my life. Plus I am still doing longer runs (which I do enjoy as long as I don’t have to run all that fast), so that if I decide to jump into something at the last minute, I can run most distances up to a half and not suffer terribly. However, the training intensities are not in the stupid range and are primarily speeds that I have successfully done this winter on the treadmill.

Speaking of the treadmill…the weather is getting better and I am getting outside more and more, which is a good thing. However, I am planning on continuing to do my speed workouts on it, since I can’t slack off the effort level when the going gets tougher, which I admit does happen when I run them outside.

Also in this area, it seems that a lot of low-key races take place on Tuesday evenings, so I have switched my Tempo days to Tuesdays and will use those low-key races to be my tempo workouts. I recover pretty quickly from the speed workouts, so having them on Thursday works for me.

The Reality is That

Using the Hanson Half Marathon Method was a great experience, where I learned that I could do more than I thought and has provided a fantastic base from which I can jump into my new 5K training plan quite nicely.

So the first quarter of 2019 ends with a very successful training cycle, where I stayed relatively healthy, if a bit overly fatigued. I learned a lot about what I can do and what works for me at this stage of my life, as well as what does not, along with letting go of something that should have let go of many years ago.

Sometimes, facing reality is a bitch, but once you do and start to accept that what you are passionate about has changed considerably and that some dreams need to be let go of. So that you can move on and enjoy life without that monkey constantly sitting on your back.

Now will I follow this plan to the letter?

Of course not, but it does provide me with some good guide rails or is that crash guards to keep me from doing too much stoopid shit, that will result in a dumb injury. One thing that I really need to watch out for is when I get to do those strides, remember Harold you are not attempting to run a sub 18:00 minute time, you are going for a sub 21:00.

Yes, I am changing my training goals yet again, like I said in the title probably for the zillionth time. However, lately the changes to my training, have been less philosophical and more about the distances I want to race and where I want to go with my running.

The bottom-line is that I am happier running shorter distances and as long as I don’t act half my age, the old body should hold together. I do know that I have to a cut-back week every 5-6 weeks now and have added that into my plan.

Tomorrow the work begins.

You know something it seems that I usually do come back to a 5K running goal and this time I am pretty excited by the idea of a fast for me 5K.