Stealing miles

One lesson we all should have learned by now is that, as Paulo Sousa says, "more is MORE". It's so simple it's genius. But obviously, due to time restrictions, nobody can just keep adding time and miles to their workouts. I'm at about my limit of time away from family and other pursuits that I'm comfortable with, but what if I want/need more training. One way I help to cover that gap is the bike commuting. Since I have to go to work anyway, it's a free five hours of easy to moderate-easy riding every week. Add on a high-intensity ride, and a long ride, and my cycling legs stay right up there.

Swimming? Well, unless we get forty days and nights of rain, I won't be adding much more beyond my three sessions every week. That will have to do. So let's just skip on to running.

Although my running legs are pretty good right now, I know that they can be better. It should be my strength. So I took a look at my training, and compared it to last year. I'm running about 12-15 miles a week less, and on three days instead of five. There is a gap there, but if I'm nearing my limit, how can I cover it? And I thought, why not do runs at work? Nothing too strenuous, but the equivalent of the bike commuting. Two or two and a half miles per day, a quick jaunt before lunch or in the afternoon. We have showers, I can get to work 15-30 minutes earlier most days so it won't affect my productivity, and I might be less inclined to want to punch someone in the head post-run. If I can do this on the trails around the hospital park 3-5 times a week, I'll sneak in 7.5-12.5 easy miles, with the accompanying speed bennies.

So now I have shoes, a couple pairs of shorts and shirts, and a towel at work to help get through the days. I would start today, but it's -4 (feels like -12), so maybe I'll just tag a couple of extra miles tonight to make up for it.