training plan decisions

Two weeks later and I finally chose a race!  Woohoo!  I put a little call out on Facebook about race suggestions and one of my friends suggested the Ferguson Twilight Run in mid-May.  It’s an evening run with live music and adult beverages afterward and sounded like a fun new race to run.  When I got a text from my brother asking if I wanted to run it, I knew I definitely couldn’t pass it up!

I let him choose whether we ran the 5K or 10K (the 10K is new), and he went for the 5K.  So, my 10K plans are put on hold for a little longer (anyone know of a good 10K in June or July?).  But, I’m hoping for a new post-pregnancy PR in the 5K at this race, if not a real PR.  Do I have it in me?  I’m not sure.  Won’t know if I don’t try though, now, will we?!

I wish I could say I have a plan set in stone, but I’m kind of wavering between 2 of them.  I really only have like 3 or 4 weeks to train for the 5K – not a ton of time, but enough to where I can build a little bit of speed hopefully.  I really want to start training harder and with only a month left until the end of the school year, I know I’ll have more time this summer.

The first plan I’m considering is Hal Higdon’s Advanced 5K training plan.  I have always loved Hal Higdon’s plans and they are always the first I go to when I’m looking for a new one.  I’ve always had success with them too.  I’ve never done one of his advanced plans but I’m to the point where mentally I think I can handle it.  It’ll be tough but I think that it’ll really push me out of my comfort zone.

The other plan is the “plan” that gave me my current 5K PR.  I PRed while I was helping coach a cross country team.  I ran almost every single workout with them – and I wrote down every single workout we did for almost 3 months.  I really wanted to remember those workouts and I’m so glad I did!  I figure if it helped me PR back then (almost 4 years ago), then it could help me PR now.

The difference between Hal Higdon’s and the XC plan is that Hal has longer long runs and shorter weekly runs, whereas the XC plan has longer weekly runs and shorter long runs.  (Are you confused yet?!)  So, I would be sacrificing a little more time during the week, but not any more than I did while training for the half.

Can you tell I’m horrible at making decisions?!  I’m such a Libra.  Ha!  Guess I’ll be trying my XC plan and hoping it works!

Which would you choose:  shorter runs during the week or a training plan that helped you PR in the past?