I must be straight up out of my mind because I agreed to participate in a 200-mile race from our home city to the Poconos! Needless to say, training has already begun. This photo is a little out-dated as the race is less than 140 days away, but you get the gist.  I downloaded the Ragnar training plan from their website but felt like it was geared more for beginners… and c’mon, I’m at least a partial noob.

My training plan involves running, lots of running, and a mixture of weight-training and other cardio to help build my endurance and overall strength.  Our local YMCA has a cycle class that’s once-a-week that I’ve got my eyes on.  If I can get over my social anxiety I’ll give it a try and see if I live to tell about it.

Running – seems very obvious, but my goal is to run: faster, stronger (if that is a thing) and longer.

I’ve tried 80/20 running (80% of your runs are at a reduced pace somewhere in the aerobic heart zone, 20% at your threshold heart rate) but I think I made it into more like 90/10 running. I felt like I wasn’t able to gain much from that experience other than decreasing my performance. Perhaps it’s something worth trying again, but I found myself stressing out over my pace and felt like I was tethered to my Garmin at all times.  I don’t know about you, but I kind of like to run, and just let my body set a rhythm. Rather than stress over training times, I’m going to include speed workouts twice a week to start.

Running Schedule (January and February):
Monday, Wednesday, Friday: 3 miles aerobic pace/moderate pace 7 mph
Tuesday and Thursday: 3 miles, alternating speed from 6 mph to 8 mph
Saturday: Rest Day, light Jogging
Sunday: Long Run day, gradually building to running 8 miles the last few weeks of February

One thing I need to improve is my strength. When I run, I tend to engage my lower back muscles and I know when I push myself too hard when I end up walking around with a sore back after running.

Strength Training Schedule:
Mon, Wed: Lower Back and Body Workouts + Plank 1:00
Friday: Cycle Class?
Tues, Thurs: Upper Body + Plank 1:00
Sat and Sun: Plank 1:00

Anyway, that’s the plan for now for the next 5-6 weeks.  I’ll be back to post some data and to see how things are progressing.  If you have any Ragnar race tips, please feel free to leave them below!