New plan. Yes. Again.

I was revisiting an issue of Running Times today (a ridiculously hardcore running magazine), and ran across an article about what to do when your training plans are not going so well.  Their advice was to keep training three days a week with the following runs: fartlek, tempo, and longer run.  I've summarized it in my mind as FTL--much like GTL, but less orange.

Fartleks are basically speed drills, where you run normally, then sprint for a while.  I suck at them because I crave structure, so I tend to do pyramids instead, which is where you run 1 minute fast, then 1 minute slow, followed by 2/2, then 3/3, and back to 2/2, finishing with 1/1.  I like them and they don't take too long to do (while giving you a good workout). 

Tempo runs are meant to be challenging, but not impossible.  You try to hold a 'pushing it' pace for about 20 minutes (after a warm-up).  I've decided that these shorter races like 5ks are about where I am right now mentally and physically, so this should be helpful for those.  Actually, I liked the last 5k so much that I signed up for another one in two weeks: the Strawberry Classic, conveniently located in the neighborhood just to the south of me across the street.

The last run is a 'long run.'  I think that I'm feeling about an hour for this one.  That is longer than anything I have run in a while, so it should be good.

Okay, this is it.  This is the plan.  Three times a week with some variation.  I've got this!

Also, as further inspiration, I got new running shoes....which were long overdue:

They are trail shoes, which wasn't exactly on purpose.  However, I think that they will be good.  I will be traveling to Germany for a month in May/June, so I can also use these for hiking.  This plan worked well in the past and I think that it's a great time for trail shoes.