Surf City 26.2 Training Plan

Week One

Sunday: long run finish with 3 mile cutdown

Workout 1: 4x mile 3 mins rest 

Workout 2: 1.5 mile LTR (or race)

Week Two

Sunday: long run finish with 3 mile cutdown

Workout 1: 2x 2 mile 3 mins rest

Workout 2: LTR  (or race)

Week Three

Sunday: long run finish with 4 mile cutdown

Workout 1: 5x mile 3 mins rest 

Workout 2: LTR (or race)

Week Four

Sunday: long run finish with 4 mile cutdown

Workout 1: 3x 2 mile 3 mins rest

Workout 2: LTR  (or race)

Week Five

Sunday: long run finish with 4 mile cutdown

Workout 1: 6x mile 3 mins rest

Workout 2: LTR  (or race)

Week Six

Sunday: long run cut down last 5 miles

Workout 1: 2x3 mile 

Workout 2: LTR  (or race)

Week Seven

Sunday: long run finish with 5 mile cutdown

Workout 1: 7x mile 3 mins rest

Workout 2:  LTR

Week Eight

Sunday: long run finish with 5 mile cutdown

Workout 1: 3 mile, 2 mile, 1 mile [3 mins rest between each]

Workout 2: LTR

Week Nine

Sunday: long run finish with 6 mile cutdown

Workout 1: 10x 1K 3 mins rest

Workout 2: LTR

Week Ten

Sunday: long run finish with 6 mile cutdown

Workout 1: 2 mile, 20 mins active rest, 3x mile 3 mins rest

Workout 2: 4x400, 30 min tempo @ your long run cutdown pace that you usually hit, 4x400.

*take 2 mins rest between the 400s

Week Eleven

Sunday: long run finish with 6 mile cutdown

Workout 1: 2 mile, 20 mins active rest, 2x mile 3 mins rest

Workout 2: Same as last week

Week Twelve

Sunday: Long run no cutdown

Workout 1: 2 mile, 20 mins active rest, 1 mile in 4:50

*do this workout as early in the week as you can, preferably Monday.

Workout 2: 10x 1 min ON 1 min OFF, nothing crazy just enough to keep you legs from getting stiff, make it a feel good workout.

Malibu 13.1

It was a normal Saturday and I’m at home when I receive a text from Justin.  “Well the sickness has cut me down and out.  If you want to drive down south you can have my bib.  You’ll probably be home by 3:00 tomorrow.  Let me know if you’re interested.”  My reply, “I’m in”.  

That evening, I drive down south on the 99, 5 and 101 to Malibu.  The race is held next to the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreational Area on the ocean front of Hwy 1.  When I look at a map, my eyes are always drawn to the green recreational areas, regional & national parks as key destinations where I wish to spend my free time.  This location did not disappoint and with the road closed to cars we’ve magically make Hwy1 our playground.

I paced a 7:22, 1:37 race.  I felt really good using this race as long run practice pacing for my full as I normally do my long runs on Sunday.  My worst mile was a hill at 7:58 but my last mile was 7:08 so my endurance is good and I’ll need to work on strength.  I tried something new at this race and went exclusively on water.  This was in part due to the aid stations only carrying water so participants don’t litter gel wrappers next to the Great Pacific Ocean.  It’s sometimes refreshing to learn to go minimalistic weather that is with gear, weight or nutrition and with this season focused on simply running, I feel like I want to run in that direction.

The Lost Boys of Yokohl Valley

The alarm is buzzing and I'm headed out to meet Tyler and Matt.  Were going running.  Tyler shows up in his white Ford pickup to carpool and we take his truck since it doesn't stand out on the country roads where cars break in's are common.  In terms of friends to run with to get faster, I'm in good company.  Tyler is a young buck who just completed the 100 mile foot race Pine to Palm.  Matt's got a real race resume taking a podium spot at half marathons.  So I'm 42 and staying young by hanging with these kids. Today we get to play in Yohohl Valley for our long run like a pack of lost boys.



In many ways, Yokohl Valley is our base camp where we have to earn it first before it gets repeated on race day.  The more time I spend out here, the more I become part of this landscape and adapt to the brutal training on sublime country roads.  Out on the road, there is peace in disconnecting from the everyday world.  If you take worries out on the road with you, you can leave them there when you return all content, exhausted and happy.



I've learned the act of running is far less difficult that the act of saying no to all those tasks that prevent you from your run.  In a way, it's a very minimalistic approach to happiness where you decide to do less things and re-allocate time to master your craft.  Running is an approach to finding happiness where it's not about what you own but what you experience that makes you feel rich.  Less stuff, more life. When I carve out time to go for a run its hard to say no but its all part of the process of unbecoming those parts of society that arn't really you.  



As Michelangelo once said “Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it”. 


Train your Athletic Mindset to think the following:

• “I believed I could so I did”.
• “Choose between what you want now and what you want most”.   
• “Qualifying for Boston demands and defines the person I want to be”.
• “You’ve got what it takes but it will take everything you’ve got”.
• "Starve your distractions to feed your focus"
• "Take a hold of the present day"
• "You always have another gear so when your legs give out run with your heart".

The simple act of arriving in Yokohl Valley for my weekly long run sets the stoke meter clearly off the chart, as Tyler would say.  We escape out here to wide open spaces that have escaped urban sprawl.  Its our backyard where nature is within reach.  Our little sanctuary where through the eyes of a runner we find our lost Eden.   Out in the country, a sunrise looks different than suburbia.  A sunrise happens every day out here and you can choose to put yourself in the way of beauty. 



To be continued...