Treadmill Season

 It's dark and cold outside. That's the reason why my running season has shifted to a treadmill season. And even that has had it's ups and downs...mostly downs.  

I really don't mind running on the treadmill but for some reason this season it has been a lot harder to get into it.  I don't know what the issue is but I'm struggling.  I'm mainly down to 3 days a week of running...if I'm lucky!  Most of the time it's like 2 but I'm hopeful that I've found my motivation and I'll be back to at least 3 days with another 1 day dedicated to getting some strength work in.  

There are 2 things that I hope will motivate me and keep me going thru these winter/colder/darker months.  That is spending a few weeks running at a lower heart rate and kind of ignoring power for the time being.  I think that may help me a lot.  Tomorrow that experiment begins.  I did that at the start of this year and I think aerobically I was in the best shape that I've ever been in.  If I can improve up on that I'll be very happy!

The other thing is that I'm looking at doing a 30K trail race next May.  I've never done something that long and I know the only way that I'll be able to do it is if I can continue to run thru this season and be at least where I was or a little bit off of it to start the season. So I'm not attempting to make up a whole lot of ground.  I don't want to be one of those people that goes from zero to like 18 miles in a few months.  I think it's a recipie for injury and I don't think it's healthy.  Of course my opinions.  

Tomorrow I hope to have a Maffetone mile in so that I can see where I'm at and then go from there.   A Maffetone mile, for me, is to run a mile while keeping my heart rate under 136 (180-my age!).  I'll attempt to post here and see how it goes!

I hope everyone's training is going well.

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