From following that to following this

I've been thinking about changing running tactics since the only long race of the spring left for me is a 10 miler on June 20. I ran the same race last year, did terribly (mostly because of the heat I think), and am running it again this year for retribution. Not unlike my desire this year to improve upon 2008's performance at the National Half Marathon. But while the FIRST program helped me improve upon my National time by over 11 minutes, I've had enough of it for now. I've been using that program since November and may be a little burned out on it.

So I've decided to follow Hal Higdon's 15K intermediate training program for the seven weeks between the Pittsburgh half last weekend and the Baltimore 10 miler in June, with some modifications of the long runs since 15K is only about 9 miles.

The problem with that is that Higdon has you running five days a week as opposed to FIRST's three, with Monday through Thursday being running days. And since I decided to follow the plan I had to run 3 miles yesterday and 4 today, just after running a half marathon.

The good news is that the runs are relatively short, with none of the four before the rest day being more than about 6 miles. The bad news is that I'm feeling a little dead legged without any rest following the half. But the two runs yesterday and today actually felt really good, and were just what I needed after a disappointing weekend. I also like that the Higdon plan gives me a little more flexibility in scheduling my runs since they're a little shorter than pretty much any of my FIRST runs. That means more outdoor running and less on the treadmill.

Anyway, I think I'm doing the right thing and I think I'll be fine for the 10 miler. Either that or I'm making a big mistake and will bomb the 10 miler even worse than last year. One or the other. I guess time will tell.