Last week I had a goal of running to see what would happen. No set distance beyond a general idea of what I wanted to do; no plan for a certain speed; and a 5-mile race without a stated goal beyond doing the best that I could do. With 17 weeks to go until the Richmond Marathon, I wanted to see what happened so I could then determine how much planning I really need to do.
Everything went well — I ran more than 23 miles, which was slightly more than a range I set for myself several weeks ago, and in addition to my race, I did speed work early in the week, which included a 2-mile tempo run in 16 minutes. Since everything went so well without full-on planning, I am going to do the same thing this week with the hope of increasing my long run a mile to 11 miles. By doing this, I don’t feel so overly pressured to get things right at the beginning of this training cycle, and if this keeps working, then this is what I’ll keep doing. So many people beat themselves up because they missed a run or missed a few miles — I’ve done it myself — and I’m not doing that this time around.
While planning is great, the strategy I have right now is working. It’s not that I’m not planning; I’m just seeing what works and taking things a few weeks at a time. As I have said, I want this experience to be fun and I want to look back and know that I did it my way. Whether it’s the right way will be seen months from now.
Real David H. 
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