e tan, e epi tas

“When a Spartan woman handed her son his shield, she exhorted him, ‘Son, come back either with this or on it’.”

I want to answer the question, how well can a mere mortal run?

I don’t have the best biomechanics going, I don’t consider myself to be in possession of any natural talent in particular and at 34 I am not getting any younger, at best I am a stubbornly determined amateur. To keep things interesting I have decided to use myself as a guinea pig and see just how much I can improve if do all the right things with regard to training, core work and diet.

I don’t want to die wondering, so I can drop my shield and flee like a coward or I can give it my all and see what happens, this is obviously a long term prospect, PBs will fall along the way but can I achieve my ultimate goals?

Sub 20 minute 5Km?
Sub 40 minute 10Km?
Sub 90 minute Half Marathon?
3:15 Marathon?

Date	Weight	BMI	BF	Resting HR
19/04/08	60.5 Kg	20.93	23.6%	48 BPM

BMI Categories:
Underweight = <18.5
Normal weight = 18.5-24.9
Overweight = 25-29.9
Obesity = BMI of 30 or greater

The following is lifted from “Run Strong” edited by Kevin Beck, chapter 3 “Devising an Effective Training Plan” by Joe Rubio.

The Six Elements of my training plan will be -

1 - A weekly long run of 90 to 120 minutes (more when I decide to do a marathon)
2 - General training runs of 45 to 90 minutes
3 - Progressive tempo runs
4 - Long intervals at 5km and 10km race pace
5 - Short intervals at quicker than 5km race pace
6 - Rest Day

4 and 5 are interchangeable depending on the time of year, these are a no brainer for me, turn up on Tuesday afternoons and do what Coach Tim says

Along with the pure running I will also restart my core strength work, I will confess to being terribly slack with this and I know better than to neglect it. My aim is to get out of bed 30 minutes earlier twice a week and then do another session on the weekend.