Insomnia

I don't know if it is those nice homemade bean burgers in my tummy or a confused mind that has me up in the middle of the night tonight. Maybe it is simply because I went to bed at 8 pm as I was exhausted.

Think I'll start stepping it up on the bike again. I've laid off since July in terms of intensity and distance. While I have done an occasional hard ride, like last Saturday's 20 mph 64mile ride, I have purposely avoided consistent hard training. I would like to get faster and lose a little more weight, although I was at a record low of 193 on Wednesday. Getting under 190 consistently would help me both in running (if I ever run) and cycling. I think the running PRs I got this year was as much due to my weight reduction as my cardio fitness from the bike. So I'll double up this weekend, looking to stay with the 20mph+ folks both Saturday and Sunday. That means Friday is an off day, will do some maintenance on my bike. It also means less alcoholic beverages so no Boondoggles tomorrow.

I have put one run on my calendar. BARC will be restarting its Sunday morning group runs and one officer will be assigned to be there on a Sunday. I took December 21. I'll attempt to run the 6 mile loop to Pine Gully Park at a tempo pace that day. I don't think I have done that loop in over one year. That will be my target run and test for my running future in the near to medium term. If it fails, I'll drop running and concentrate fully on cycling for at least the first half of 2009 (while continuing to toy with swimming once or twice a week). Besides, the podiatrist wants me to run, so I need to try a few more times before I see him on December 10. Then I can bitch to him with enough data that the orthotics are not helping and we'll see what he recommends. Nevertheless first we'll see what Dr Alice says about me penciling in a run Thanksgiving week, about the Dec 21 target and about (lack of) progress with the calf stretches and everything else known to mankind.

Guess I am just searching for some direction between now and the end of the year. Maybe just setting some short term goals is the way to go. Like doubling up on cycling this weekend, running a 3 mile training run in Colorado on Thanksgiving week and running a 6 mile tempo run in Seabrook on December 21. Big goals are just the culmination of a lot of little goals. I am a little goal guy at the moment.

The idea of little or short term goals sounds nice. Why does one have to set all these big goals and only get pleasure from them? Seeing 190 on the scale is a nice little goal. But my first little goal is to go back to sleep and not wake up until 5 am.

For those of you who are training for the big goal, eg a fantastic marathon in January, you will be reaching your peak fitness phase. I wish you all well. One note of caution, beware the hubris of deviating from your plan and running like the wind too much in your training, just because you can and it feels so good, as you may find yourself walking to the doctor. I will make that a subject in an upcoming eBARCer. I'm a hubris expert.