This week starts Phase 4 of Jack Daniel’s “Red” fitness running plan. This is the final phase of the plan.

The most notable thing during the previous phase was coming down with a cough. It started the Wednesday following the Jerome Scales Southside 5k, so I thought maybe my lungs had taken a beating from the hard breathing in the cold air. I opted for easy runs over the scheduled workouts for the next couple of weeks. I’m still coughing, but not as bad. My resting heart rate never rose above average to indicate sickness, so I’m not quite sure what the problem is. I returned to workouts last week.

I also introduced some strength training at the start of February. I’ve been injured off and on since 2020, so I figured if I’m going to be a slow and broken runner, I might as well have some more well-rounded fitness. I joined the YMCA around the corner from us and have started the Stronglifts 5x5 program. It’s a beginner strength program probably best known because all of the information is available online. It’s going well so far, but I have had a lot more soreness because of it.

Here’s my next four weeks of running:

1. Monday: 30 minutes easy + 8 strides
2. Tuesday: 10 minutes easy + 4 strides + 5 minutes I + 4 minutes jog + 3 minutes I + 2 minutes jog + 10 minutes easy
3. Thursday: 10 minutes easy + 6 strides + 1.5 miles T + 2 minutes rest + 10 minutes easy
4. Saturday: 50 minutes easy + 4 strides

This does indicate a small mileage bump, which I expect to be too slight to be noticeable.

I have a 10k race on March 9, which I am planning on putting in a race effort even though the distance is longer than any of my training runs. We’ll see how that goes.