Fat Man Running: January 2011

Having recently pursued nonathletic adventures in urban living, cohabitation and extended confinement in a 4'x8' space, the urge to run a somewhat challenging race crept back into my quickly aging legs. Sure, I'd done a 4 miler or 10k here and there, but my rigorous training schedule for those typically consisted of a few lumbering 5 mile jogs each week and required no attention to pace, eating habits or training plans.

So on a whim, I signed up for an early April half - my first in nearly two years. Luckily, I was able to dig up a few useful resources in planning for this surprisingly hilly course:

Hal Higdon's Training Guide - Straight forward, easy to understand and targeted towards multiple levels of runners. I prefer a slightly modified version of the Novice plan.
Google Calendar - To schedule those pesky training runs that good ole' Hal insists on. I find that email reminders of "Run, you fat ass!" can be quite motivating.
LiveStrong.com - An outstanding site for tracking runs, meals and a variety of other useful tools. It definitely helps reconsider that mid-day mocha or push for one more mile at the end of a long run.

Of course, none of this would be fun without an accompanying playlist - my own personal montage music if you will. Having already dedicated a full post to the brilliance of one Mr. Benjamin Folds and another to previous incarnations of my playlist, I figured a third was in order. The below playlist all stars have a pretty distinctive 60s/70s feel to them, but are definitely worth consideration for any soundtracks that need refreshing: