Well, now what?

…so there’s that PR I can’t stop talking about.

…and that little marathon thing I can’t stop thinking about.

…and barre n9ne that I’m still totally and utterly in love with.

Well, now what? 

I’m finding myself stumbling into an “in between” spot — no races to be training for, no barre n9ne challenge to be focused on (not “officially” anyway…always in barre n9ne mode in some shape or form). No “something” to be working towards, near-term.

So, knowing me, I’ve been doing lots of thinking. About what I want to focus on for the next say, six months before officially throwing myself into marathon training (y’know, after I can actually register for the Chicago Marathon…minor detail!). 

And I’ve decided that I have three goals for myself – they probably won’t surprise you.

1 – Maintain my running endurance as best as I can this winter (aiming for a long-ish run per week all winter, for the most part)

2 – Make sure to properly mix in intervals to work on speed. (I hear a certain Jim over at RunBikeSurf has a killer interval workout he and Sam at Because I can are planning to post soon…ahem!)

3 – Stay focused in barre n9ne, constantly improving my form, core strength and flexibility.

Sounds pretty well-rounded…and kinda similar to what I’ve been doing, yeah? The difference to me is a subtle one. But it’s an important one to me. I’ve worked SO hard to get myself into the best running “fitness” of my life and I feel like I’m in a really good place. So I want to hang onto it like hell. 

I’m also so grateful for what barre n9ne has done for me — it’s totally transformed me, and continues to change me every single day. Physically but perhaps even more so mentally. So I want to hang onto *that* like hell too. 

The only difference in either scenario? No hard and fast “schedule” or “training plan” for the next few months. And I’m cool with that. It’ll let me mix up my weeks a little bit more than I have been the past few months. But it’ll still be focused, which is so important to me.

For example – this week has been solely focused on barre n9ne while I give myself a running break (my joints are thanking me!). And maybe there will be a week or two where I’m more focused on running and intervals/speed and less so on barre n9ne. Who knows.

Either way? I have my eye on the prize – 26.2 next October. The next year is going to be a rollercoaster (like whoa). And I’d like to start that rollercoaster on solid (strong) ground. Strong legs, happy joints, conditioned core.  Run-smart. Train-smart. Live-smart. 

…so this is my non-plan of a plan. I dig it.