It’s been nearly 4 months since we took Colton home. It’s been nearly 4 months of trying to find my running groove again. After 11 miles this past Saturday, I’m ready to start training for the 2016 Avengers Super Heroes Half Marathon. Tonight, I’ll log the first 4 miles!

As you can see, the first 6 weeks aren’t too crazy. This week will be pretty interesting. Jeff Galloway has 45 minutes scheduled for the mid-week runs. It takes me around 48 to finish 4 miles. So, it’s close enough. I’ll be upping my mid-week runs from 3 miles to 4 starting TONIGHT! This week should be interesting because my mid-week runs will be longer than my “long run” over the weekend. This will be the only time that happens with the exception of my first 2 track workouts (weeks 4 and 6).

As mentioned last week, I’ll be doing 400’s instead of 800’s. To be honest, week 4 will be the first one where I feel tested. I haven’t found a way to make 400’s work with the Yasso 800’s. So, here’s what I’m going with. Let me remind you how Yasso 800’s work in preparation for a half marathon. What I will be looking to do is double my half marathon goal time and add 8-10 minutes to figure out my time. I’ll take that time and divide in half (after all 400’s vs. 800’s). For me, it looks like this…

• 2:30:00 half marathon goal time
• 5:00:00 marathon goal time (doubling my half time)
• 5:10:00 is the marathon time which I’m basing my goal 400’s
• 5 minutes, 10 seconds would be my goal 800’s time (goal marathon time divided by 10)
• 2 minutes, 35 seconds will be my goal 400’s time

Back in February, the last time I attempted Yasso 800’s, these were my times. If I look at them as 2 400’s , it’s like I did 8 x 400’s. So. let’s break them down (assuming that the laps were all equal – half the time for the 800’s)

• 4:55 was the first 800 or 2:27 for the first 2 400’s
• 5:34 for the second 800 or 2:47 for the second 2 400’s
• 5:38 for the third 800 or 2:49 for the third 2 400’s
• 5:49 for the fourth 800 or 2:54 for the fourth 2 400’s

So, if I repeat this in week 4, I’d have my 400’s of 2:27, 2:27, 2:47, and 2:47. Since my goal is 2:35, it looks like this will be a good goal for me for now.

The fun part about the start of a new training cycle is that, no matter what you do in training, you have a fresh set of goals to chase down. As I mentioned last week, now that Avengers Super Heroes Half Marathon training has started, my training will be all about this race and this race only. I do have the Disneyland 5K and Disneyland 10K to run on Labor Day Weekend and the Long Beach 5K in October. However, my main focus right now is the Avengers Super Heroes Half Marathon. So, here are the goals I’m chasing down as I begin…

• Goal A – 2:30:00 or faster
• Goal B – 2:30:01 – 2:40:00
• Goal C – 2:40:01 – 2:43:24 (New Half Marathon PR!)
• Goal D – sub 3:00:00 (runDisney Half Marathon PR)
• Goal E – 3:00:01 – 3:03:14 (Avengers Super Heroes Half Marathon Course PR)
• Goal F – Have fun and learn from mistakes

Yep….6 goals to start with. As I get closer to November, that number might go down. After all, it’s better to let your training set your goals. So, if my 400’s are not on par with the goal of a sub 2:30:00 half marathon, I will adjust my Goal A for this race. Also, my long runs will give me an indication as well. Between the long runs and the 400’s on the track, I should have a good idea of what I’m capable of heading into the race. Of course, on race day, anything can happen. However, I think that between the 400’s and long runs, I’ll have a pretty realistic time in mind.

At the 2015 Rock n Roll San Diego Marathon/Half Marathon weekend, not only did I get to meet Meb, but listen to him speak at the Expo as well. In part of that Q & A, he mentioned the importance of having a few goals heading into each race. You start with Goal A until you get to that point where Goal A won’t happen. Then, you move on to Goal B, C, D, etc. He said this is important because it keeps you engaged in the race. Since we won’t always hit our “A” Goal, having the other goals help us not to completely give up on a race and achieve a faster time.

The other goal of this training cycle is to set a new 10K PR at the 2016 Disneyland 10K. This goal is a minor one and not one that I’ll be terribly focused on. However, I’ll be running 9 miles the weekend before Disneyland 10K.

With a 9 mile run the weekend before the Disneyland 10K, I think I could be in prime position for a new PR. The key, as it always is, to achieving these goals is to hit each and every workout on the plan. I know the path I need to take. It’s now time to just…

I can’t wait to assemble with all my other Avengers out there this November!

Even if they keep Iron Man out of the discussions. I’m sure all the Avengers will be there. Let’s do this! Time to start training!