Almost ready

My knee is much, much better. Just little hints of pain from time to time, like I might feel after a hard workout or a few days after a race. I took the dog for a slow, easy walk the other night and felt little twinges but nothing serious. I also rode my bike a little and it was fine. But I'm waiting to start my training. I'm really, really, really anxious to get back at it, but I know that starting too soon will just make it worse.

I'm going to see how I feel Saturday night. If all is OK, I will do some easy training Sunday morning and see how that goes. If that goes well, I'll start some of my daily training. If Sunday doesn't feel good, I'll wait longer, but it's going to be hard.

I have a tentative race plan for the next year. Things could change (with me, they often do). But here is the plan right now:

October 29: Miracle Match Marathon, Waco, TX. This will be only my second marathon ever. Why do it? I have friends and family in Waco, including some of my ultra friends who are doing it. I also used to live there, so it will be like a race down memory lane.

November: I'd like to do a 50k, but I haven't found one yet (there is one in Dallas but it is only two weeks after the marathon).

December 9: SunMart 50 miler. This will be my third year in a row to do SunMart. I really like the race and I'll see lots of my ultra friends and acquaintances there. It should be lots of fun, as usual.

January/February: Train, train, train. Maybe a 50k.

March 16/17/18: Three Days of Syllamo (20k, 60k, 50k). I did this race two years ago and it was, without a doubt, the best time I've ever had doing ultras. Great races, beautiful course, great camping and food. Just an awesome time!

April/May: Train, train, train. Maybe some 50ks.

June 9: Laurel Highlands Ultra. This is another race I did in the past and loved. This one will depend on finances. It's a much longer trip (if we drive) or more expensive (if we fly and rent a car) so we'll have to see if it's in the budget.

July/August/September: Train, train, train.

October 13: Heartland 100. Finally, the Heartland 100. I've wanted to do this race for a while (I've done the 50 [it was my first ultra], and I've paced for over 62 miles) and now hope to make Heartland 2007 my first 100.

So this is the plan. Seems very reasonable and not too aggressive. I may throw in some shorter races here and there as it seems appropriate. I've let my ultra conditioning slip for a few months so I'm going to get it back. I'm also going to do more hill and speed work. During ultra training I tend to forget about speed, but I'm going to do more intervals and tempo walks during my weekday training to try to prepare me to go faster.

I'll let you know if I'm able to train this weekend. Thanks for reading!