So, after a month or so of just doing easy base miles, I’m now 3 weeks deep into Hal Higdon‘s advanced half marathon plan.
You read that right: the advanced plan. Now, as I’ve said here before, I’ve been a total slacker for almost 2 years now. You’d think I’d want to be smart and ease my way into this, right?
You would have thought wrong. I’m nowhere NEAR that smart.
Yea, I thought the beginner plan was way too easy. And the intermediate? I almost went with that plan — it seemed the prudent thing to do. But, as I surveyed the running plans on the Hal Higdon website, I could almost hear the disembodied voice of Hal urging me to click on the Advanced plan. “You’ll love it”, he seemed to whisper in my ear.
And I clicked. And I did love.
It would be hard. Well, advanced even. But I thought: this is just what I need. Hal to ride my butt and get me to this half marathon in December in the best shape I’ve ever been in.
Yes, Hal’s got a tough job to do. Whipping me into top form — after almost 2 years of nothing-much — wasn’t for no sissy running plan, that’s for sure.
And so far, the plan is coming close to, but not yet totally kicking my butt. I’ve been running 5-6 times a week, and running more pain-free than I have in a long while. Cardio’s building nicely, legs are feeling good and I’m really excited about training. So far, Hal hasn’t led me wrong.
I’m taking it week-by-week, swapping workouts where life dictate, but haven’t missed a session yet, which is unusual for me. Typically I would have already deteriorated into not even looking at the plan by now — so, I’ m hopeful at the moment that this might stick. Of course, 3 weeks is just a small bit (well, 25%, I suppose) of the full 12 weeks of training. There’s still time to revert back to my normal behavior.
Perhaps this is my new normal? That remains to be seen, I suppose. I’m optimistic, though: hell, weirder things have happened. And plus, Hal thinks I can do it. And he knows everything, right?