David Taylor Gonzales

11/6

During the long days of training, especially in he month of October as the race got closer, I found myself daydreaming about my goals this late fall and winter.

The first thing I’m excited about is lowering my weekly mileage back to 10-15 miles per week. This is the biggest one because as much as I love to run, I don’t love the longevity implications of being skinny in my 20s. I am going to make building muscle a primary focus this fall by weight training 3 days per week. I hope to get stronger so that I can go into my next training block with lean mass that will make me faster.

I am also excited for the strength training! I am inexperienced  but I have learned a lot this year and I think the low hanging fruit in improving my running form and speed lies in the dumbbells in my basement. 

My schedule for training this fall/winter will look like this: 
Monday 5 mile easy run
Tuesday Lift
Wednesday Tempo/Threshold 5K
Thursday Off
Friday Lift
Saturday 10K Long Run
Sunday Lift

I have a high volume Workout A and a lower volume Workout B which I will alternate between for each lifting day. I decided to alternate between the two that way I have some weeks with higher volume (two Workout A’s) and some weeks with lower volume (two Workout B’s). This will help prevent injury since I’m still new to lifting and getting used to some of the exercises.

12/10

I ran the Turkey Trot in Austin a few weeks ago. I had aspirations of placing top 15 for that race but when I found out that almost 2,500 people signed up, I decided to adjust that goal to break top 50. I placed 43rd, 35th of the men, and 5th in my age group! Given how competitive the central Texas running community is, this result is probably one of the best I’ve ever had. This was not a flat course, there’s almost 300 feet of elevation gain (and it’s a 5k!). I ran a negative split of 7:17, 7:07, and 6:30 with a dead sprint to finish out the last tenth of a mile. Average pace of 6:57/mile. This result bodes well for my ability to run well in my races next year since this race didn’t have a training block, no taper, and I had hamstring soreness from a heavy workout three days prior. Running isn’t a priority in this season but it felt great to throw down a fast finish time on Thanksgiving Day. I’m thankful for my family, for the health and ability to train hard, and the fact that I have so many people in my corner cheering me on.

It’s been almost six weeks since my marathon. I’ve been doing a mini “bulk” phase to support muscle growth as I strength train. I don’t have any more races on the calendar for 2025 so improving my aerobic capacity isn’t a priority right now. Since November 2nd, I have gained 4.5 pounds which averages out to approximately 0.9 pounds per week. Once I get to 180 pounds (which I anticipate hitting next Monday) I will start cutting weight down. My goal is to go into the spring racing season at 167 pounds or so. I have two races of different distances that I’m excited about: Rock the Parkway in Kansas City and the Potter’s House 5K in Springfield. I’ve focused on strength training 3 days per week and running 3 days per week. The lower volume of running has been good for me because I haven’t had as much time to train with Thanksgiving, holiday travel, kid sickness (it’s flu season!) and things like that. Having a full gym in my basement has been a massive blessing as the weather gets colder.

Since getting back from our Thanksgiving holiday, the kids and Lane have been sick almost nonstop. Lane had an upper respiratory infection which prevented her from running the Turkey Trot with me. John got an ear infection when we got back to town which caused him to not eat very well and since he’s breastfeeding, that caused Lane to get mastitis. THEN, Joy woke up with a fever yesterday morning. It’s been nonstop unfortunately so we’re all just hanging on by the seat of our pants right now. Some weeks, the training goal is just this: survive.

Keep Going!