March 2021 – hitting my best times in years. After committing all of 2020 to changing the game I’m in the best shape of my life. Down to 158 and running almost every day. I took on Jack Daniels’ running program and followed the 10K path. Spent months of the summer doing the base work I needed and using the desire to run harder as motivation.
By the end of the summer I entered speed work phase mixing in hard days to days a week. From intervals on the track to tempo runs. It was invigorating. I don’t think this would have worked without Covid lockdowns though. I was careful to stay far from other runners and crossed over on the street when I passed. We did start back to the office a bit but that was on and off for me. I have been able to get in runs later in the day without commuting and it feels great
I leveraged the V.02 App which leveraged Daniels’ system of measurement – taking into account O2 intake capacity and running/race times. My VDOT stood at 45.9 by 10/16/20 and dropped a bit to 44.7 by February. I ran the Atlanta 1/2 Marathon Feb 28, 2021 in 1:38:34 and the night before the 5K in 21:58 gaining a place for my age group. My record 5K remains at 21:27 on 11/15/2020.
Most of all I’m feeling great.