It looks like it’s been nearly a month since my last fitness-related post. Weird since I was updating every week there for several months. Been keeping up with everyone else but just haven’t been motivated enough to pound out a few words of my own. LAME. What’s not lame is that I’ve still been hitting it hard – maybe even harder than usual – in many ways. Here are some:

I did mention last time that I was officially starting my half-marathon training program that I had made for myself. I made the program myself for a variety of reasons, though mostly I did it so I could go at my own slow pace. While I was able to complete couch-to-5k and 5k-to-10k programs, at the risk of sounding like a wimp, I sometimes felt the intervals at which the longer runs grew was a little too much too soon. My program that I’ve made for myself gives me a long run every two weeks that increases by approximately 10% with one or two 2-3 mile runs during the week and a Runtastic Story Run on the off weekends (about 4 miles or so). I have a half-marathon in mind that’s the first week of April and if I finish this program I will hit half-marathon (and then some) distance by the end of February. The program looks like this:

Week 1: Short (story) Run	Week 2: 5 Miles	Week 3: Short (story) Run
Week 4: 5.5 Miles	Week 5: Short (story) Run	Week 6: 6 Miles
Week 7: Short (story) Run	Week 8: 6.5 Miles	Week 9: Short (story) Run
Week 10: 7.1 Miles	Week 11: Short (story) Run	Week 12: 7.75 Miles
Week 13: Short (story) Run	Week 14: 8.5 Miles	Week 15: Short (story) Run
Week 16: 9.25 Miles	Week 17: Short (story) Run	Week 18: 10.1 Miles
Week 19: Short (story) Run	Week 20: 11.1 Miles	Week 21: Short (story) Run
Week 22: 12.2 Miles	Week 23: Short (story) Run	Week 24: 13.5 Miles
Week 25: Short (story) Run	Week 26: 14.75 Miles	Week 27: Short (story) Run

Week 27 is the last week of February, leaving me with one month before the race. I intend to take a week to run at 75% distance (~10.25 Miles), two weeks at 50% (~6.5 miles), and one week at 25% (~2.25 miles) before the big day. I’ve not signed up for my race just yet because I want to make sure I can stick with this training at least until the end of October (early registration, aka CHEAP registration, ends on November 1) before I sign up. I’m motivated enough myself, but now my running friend from across the pond, Running Not Racing is looking to do her first half during that week, too, so I believe we’ve decided to make this happen! Accountability abroad, I love it!

Meanwhile I have completed weeks 1-3 already so I’m well on my way. A mere 24 weeks stands between me and the end of my program, only 21 until I hit half marathon distance. Hard to believe this time last year I was struggling to run a mile! Sometimes it’s a little frustrating that it’s going to take so long to get there but like I tell everyone else, fitness isn’t a temporary fad. If you do it right, it’s a lifelong process so who really cares how long it takes? Just get out there and enjoy the run – a hobby that hurts, can be a serious bummer, and something I sometimes hate, but have a weird passion for in the end.

https://instagram.com/p/7iJ2a3L2dU

 

So in addition to this and my three boxing classes I attend each week I’ve been helping Erin train three nights per week on another custom program I’ve built based on my hour-long classes at Title Boxing Club. She’s successfully completed 3 of the 4 weeks the program was built for consisting of a mild-intensity warm up, heavy bag + mitt work, and moderate intensity core exercises. She’s also getting out with me on Sunday mornings for a bit of active recovery that includes walking her first 5k on the Greenway and playing some basketball at the park. Next week I think we’re attempting tennis!

Once she finishes her 4 week boxing program I’m going to get her on something that’s a bit more independent so I can have Thursdays for a photography class I’m going to be taking. Photography is something I’ve always had an interest in and it’s a fun hobby I have but I’ve never gotten any classroom style education on the topic. I’m looking forward to it!

One more thing I want to get to before I drop in the usual mileage table: I finally got my story in for Strange Lands! Strange Lands is a Pulp Magazine revival project I was invited to be a part of as a contributing writer. I haven’t been published in a few years and the last time was for Cosmopolitan Magazine so to say I feel like I’m out of my element is an understatement. I had a very hard time getting the writer’s mind back on track but I finally knocked out my first Pulp story, Just Ride, a short about Lilith Flora Del Rio, her relationship with a demon named Attah, and her life growing to be an experienced, seductive black widow. If the owner of the project digs it well enough and invites me back for another issue, I’d like to turn her into a recurring character with several stories about her past and the many rich husbands she weds. We’re looking to start our Kickstarter fundraiser next month so I’ll probably be pimping that here when it comes about. Check it out if you haven’t already!

And I guess here’s the updated table:

2015 Running
Time Period	Total Distance
Runtastic Runs (1/1-4/15)	56.51 Miles
5k-to-10k (4/15-6/21)	87.52 Miles
Runtastic Runs (6/23-Present)	90.22 Miles
Total Yearly Miles:	234.25
Miles Left Until 2015 Goal (350 Miles): 115.75
2015 Race Times
Race	Time
Calhoun’s New Year’s Day 5k 2015	No official time
Zen Evo Chocolate Lover’s Valentine’s 5K 2015	33:10
Barley’s St. Patrick’s Day 5k 2015	34:34
Covenant Health 5k 2015	33:39
Pilot Fireball Moonlite Classic 5k	33:05
The Man Run 10K	01:12:43