Cowboy Hazel

Earlier in the summer, before this whole knee injury fiasco and when I thought I was still racing Chicago, I carefully mapped out a plan for my training. When the goal race shifted to Philly, I assumed I would just switch the dates and go from there. Since then, I've realized that won't work.

Just now am I finally feeling recovered enough to call myself "healthy." I haven't done any formal speedwork yet, but I've had moments within runs that let me know I'm ready. Eight miles into a wandering run through the Bronx and Harlem on Wednesday morning, Antonio and I dropped an unplanned 6:57 mile. We had made it down to Central Park and hit the hills and accelerated without even noticing. Then, today, near the end of an easy 6 in recovery from yesterdays 15, I felt the twitch and launched into a 6:55 mile followed by a half at 6:22 pace.

I'm ready to jump back into official training but the problem is, I'm only eleven weeks out from my "main event" marathon and in between now and then I have two half-marathons, another marathon, and the Fifth Avenue Mile on my calendar. Where the hell am I going to find an 11 week marathon training plan that takes all that into account? Nowhere.

So, I've decided to just wing it. Before you shake your head in disapproval, know that this isn't a slacker's I'll-run-when-I-feel-like-it approach. I've been pushing myself hard lately (without a plan) and will continue to do so. August was my highest mileage month yet and I'm on pace to break that record with (a shorter) September.

I have some basics that I'll bring with me: speedwork once a week, hills at least once a week. And I'll try to alternate long (20+ miles) slow run Saturdays with shorter (13-15 miles) Saturdays at near-race pace. But, other than that, I'm just going to go based on what my body feels.

I want to put myself through the most aggressive training possible without exposing my body to another injury and I feel like the best way to do that is to self-navigate rather than following a set sheet of numbers.

I hope I'm right.

I might not be.

But maybe I am.