Sorry to hear AmiK.  I am no help there, but do carry immodium with me on long runs in case this happens.  Have you talked to a doctor about this? By the way, I think ab ripper x is one of the best ab routines I have ever seen.

CBus - try the first 30 to 40 minutes of P90x yoga. Its a killer, but great.

Good luck to your DH Mdawg! Are you going to crew for him?

Looks like I will be joining the spring HM crew - running GA Publix Half  in March. I like the looks of the Hudson plan and will likely use that one. But still reading the book right now. I will be training then also for another HIM in Knoxville in May, so I will try to incorporate this into my tri training. Got to get a couple of erasers...

Lower body weights today (squats, lunges, power walks, hammy work, etc). For squats, I am really trying to focus on reps and muscle endurance. Plan to work up to 3x20 with 225 on squats. Makes for a fun leg day . Passing out or crawling from the squat rack is ok, right? Haven't run since past weekends race. Planning spin tomorrow at lunch or might do the morning class if DW does not work out then. DW has really gotten after it in the morning and results are noticeable. Pretty cool for her.

cbus: way to go with the yoga!  It gets easier every time you do it, but never too easy since there are so many variations of each movement.  That's why I like it--always a challenge.  Thanks for the job search encouragement, too.  I'd be cool with moving but I only took the PA bar and haven't been practicing long enough to get reciprocity in other states Otherwise I'd be moving to CO in a heartbeat.

docket: glad you're recovering well from LV. 

Ami: oh no!  Hope you're feeling better... precisely why running in the woods--alone--has its benefits

Sprinkles: I'll definitely book the Radisson then... it looked super nice!  My original plan was to stay Sunday night, too, and do some winery visiting, but in the midst of the job search last night, I realized that I might be only a month into a new job at that point... probably can't take off that soon. bummer!

I'm still working on figuring out what plan to go with for Shamrock half, as well.... I'm liking hearing everyone's input!

Cbus I honestly cannot remember- I saw a mention of the group somewhere on the site then searched user groups using "RWOL" if I remember correctly.

Hog- that is an amazing example of determination- I have months like that because of a minor cold, or just because I don't feel like running!

For those who lift, what sort of range of motion do you use? I assume sramaley is talking about just little dips on the squats (I could not even stand up under that much weight!) Is a deep squat bad for your knees?

11 miles at steady pace through rolling hills today, rest day tomorrow, possibly the bike to nowhere on Saturday.

I shouldn't be, but every time I don't check the board often it amazes me how many new posts there are.

AmiK, that sucks that you have the GI issues. I found that some food causes me issues (like Cliff Bars for some reason), but other than that I haven't had a problem.

Regarding the discussion on what plan to follow, etc., I think that I am signing up for the Knoxville half marathon on April 6th, but am going to follow the Hanson's advanced plan as much as possible. My thought is that it would give me an idea of what their workouts are like, but since I am only doing a half, it will be fine to miss some of the runs when I have other things going on. For those discussing Pfitz, I do think that I wouldn't have had the minor injuries that bothered me if I followed another plan. But, I can say that it definitely made me faster. The one question I have though about the intervals at the end of the schedule is that maybe it improved my anaerobic capacity as a detriment to my aerobic system? During that time my 10k time definitely got better, but 2 months before my marathon I ran a 10 mile 8:50 pace run at 125bpm, 68% HRR. Around that time my HR to pace was really improving. Well, that was the best that it ever got, and my HR and effort seemed much worse at that pace the month leading up to the marathon. There could be a few reasons, as I did have a small injury that made me miss a few days, and maybe it made my form compensate for the soreness and became more inefficient? I don't know but I can say that during that 2 months I improved my 10k time, but seemed to have increased my HR on slower runs than before that 2 month period. Or, maybe that was just due to overtraining? I don't know.

So I ran 6 miles this morning as a start of Hanson's plan. We'll see how it goes.

Cbus- Sparkle shoes - I'd be chasing myself to the finish line. 

Dreamn- the 10k is the distance that I'd be least likely to place in!  I'm good at the 4 mile and 10 mile...of course those are not very common distances.  I'm better the longer it gets I think (in terms of AG%). 

Bago- I looked at Hansons and it is too many days a week for me- I'm doing Higdon because I'm not at the level where I think I can take the pounding of Pfitz, as much as I'd love to do it.  I have the Run Faster book and I like it better than Hansons due to the flexibility. 

AmiK- I have a 15% code too but Brooks is excluded and so are Mizunos - so I can't win!  I wanted to try the Kinvaras too eventually.  i got the Flows for $70 since I love the pair I have and the old model was on sale.   I don't pronate much and run on my forefoot so my guess is I can wear most types of shoes that are fairly responsive.

Spin tonight for me.  

Ami-I had GI problems training for my first marathon back in '04.  I found that I basically had to cut out all high fiber foods.  No whole wheat anything, pretty much.  I now eat high fiber foods without a problem.  I don't know if my system adapted to it or what, but it isn't a problem for me anymore.  

Sprinkles and Ami-I've been running in Kinvaras exclusively for a while now and I love them.  I think they have a narrow toe box, if that's a problem for you.  I've had some toe blister issues, but other than that, I love them.  So much so that I got very excited when we drove through Kinvara on our trip to Ireland in October!

I've adjusted my training plans for Rotterdam.  Pfitz 18/55 was supposed to start I think next week for me, but I know myself and know that I will stress over following a training plan while traveling over the holidays, so I've decided to just get as many runs as I possibly can in while we are gone and then start the 12/55 plan in January.  I'll be adding some miles early on too.  

We are in the midst of a snow storm with wind and all my kids are home from school with a snow day, so I think it's unlikely I'll be getting out today.  Yesterday was an easy 8 at 9:34 but average HR of 178-84% HRR-which is the top end of my MP range, and mid range for LT, according to Pfitz. My average for the 10ishK race I ran at 7:56 last Saturday was 188-only 10 beats higher.  Isn't that weird?

All this talk about half marathons.  What are those?  Is that a (gasp) distance shorter than marathons?