My Incoherent Thoughts Rolled into a Post

My random Tuesday thoughts brought to you by the inability to focus on any one thing in particular:

• Last night I found myself at Baskin Robbins. The good news is that I got sherbet (not that it's healthy but it's healthier than Rocky Road Double Crunch or whatever). The bad news is that I got two scoops. And on a waffle cone. The very bad news is that the sherbet (Strawberry Lemonade) was fantastic, so I'll probably be back this week. Eff this so called diet, I hate you.

• Just to clarify, my goal for cleaning up my diet was not intended for weight loss, but rather for performance. Basically, to see if eating better makes me run faster. My diet hasn't been perfect. It is far from it. I cheat a lot (see Baskin Robbins). And, I have an abnormally large appetite, even for a runner. However, my diet has been cleaner for this training cycle than it ever has been. It's been hard to judge results though. I know fueling with healthy foods is especially important during marathon training, so I'm doing my best to stick with it. I have a tendency to stress eat sometimes (read: candy) and I don’t cook so it makes eating out too easy (I’m working on this).

• I am getting sick of Facebook. I cannot log into my account without the news feed being over run by political rants and baby pictures. Between the heated Obama Care debate and how you are evil if you eat at Chick-Fil-A, it's getting old. I have really no problem with the baby pictures other than they take up all my news feed, but the ultrasound as a profile picture thing? They pretty much all look the same to me.

• A few lessons I'm learning in this training cycle (aka marathon training for a PR in the summer): It takes support. It takes patience. It takes discipline. It takes, well, just plain old bull-headedness.

• Question: What do adults wear to bed? I'm serious. Incorrect answers include: nothing and things with long pants or long sleeves (I live in Texas and it is always so hot and if I am hot at night I am convinced that I will die of awfulness). I currently sleep in some oversized boxer shorts and whatever shirts I have stolen from my husband. The problem is that the shorts have lost their elasticity and thus their ability to stay on. It isn't pretty. I know I could buy more boxer shorts but it doesn't feel very adult. I don't want clingy. But I also want it to be something that I don't necessarily have to put a robe over if I have to sneak into my own backyard. 

• I've run 18 marathons and this is the first marathon that I've followed a training plan for. I thought I would hate it, but I really like it. Crossing off workouts hanging on my wall is the best motivation I could have ever asked for. No matter how I am feeling or what has happened the day before, I am running when my alarm goes off. No ifs ands or buts. I just do it. I am working towards a goal and I won't let anything stop me. I didn't have that kind of attitude when I’m not following a training plan. 

• I did 10 miles this morning, 6 of those miles were purely hill repeats. And it didn't suck as bad as I thought it would.

• I love my basset hounds to death but damn they shed a lot. I have been vacuuming EVERY DAY and filling up the vacuum cleaner with dog hair each time.

• As I mentioned the other day, I have still not had any Mexican food whatsoever since I began this training cycle. Mostly because I will stuff my face with a basket of chips then eat an entire meal every time I step foot in a Mexican food joint. Dan tried to make the argument to me last night that it is possible to eat healthy at a Mexican food restaurant. I countered that if I am going to eat Mexican food, I sure as hell don't want to eat something healthy - especially while he stuffs his face with something 10x more appetizing. Which is why I've avoided it altogether.

• I have really enjoyed watching the Olympic Swimming. I have not enjoyed the fact that they can swim 200m faster than I can swim 100m. Damn, I'm slow.

Baltimore Marathon Training: Week 4

So with 4 weeks down, I haven't missed a single run. There's something so satisfying about crossing off that box after a workout. I was a little worried about how my workouts might pan out last week with both a high volume work week and training week, but it just required a little more time management. I have the same coming up these next two weeks - lots of work events and lots of training, but now that I know I can handle it, I'm not so worried about fitting everything in.

Last Week's Training:
Monday: 2200 yard swim. 

Tuesday: (AM) Run Group - 10 miles. (Lunch) 35 min strength/core. (PM) 2,550 yd swim
Tuesday's run group workout was:
2 miles continuous @ 1/2 marathon pace: 13:54/6:57 pace (2 min rest)
2x1 mile @10k pace (1 min rest in between): 6:44, 6:40
2x800m @5k pace (45 sec rest in between): 3:16 (6:32 pace); 3:17 (6:36 pace)

Wednesday: (AM) 14.1 mile run/8:37 pace. (Lunch) 1700 yd swim
These Wednesday runs are so tough for me. I can't figure out why they are so much tougher on me than my weekend long runs...maybe a combination of tired legs from Tuesday's speed work and general sleepiness from having to get up at the god awful hour of 4:30 to fit them in before work. But, I do think they are serving their purpose - it's great practice running on tired legs and definitely emulates those final few marathon miles.

Thursday: (AM) Run group - 11.6 miles; (Lunch) 30 min strength/core.
We headed to the track for Thursday's workout, which was 10x400 with 400m active recovery (so 10 400's fast/10 400's easy). I definitely lacked some pep in my step this morning and was a few seconds off my goal paces, but stayed pretty consistent. Fast 400 splits were average pace of 6:05: 1:31, 1:30, 1:32, 1:32, 1:34, 1:34, 1:33, 1:34, 1:32, 1:31.

Friday: (AM) 5 easy miles, watch-less. 

Saturday: 21 miles @8:01 pace. 1500m open water swim at Lake Pflugerville. 
I met up with the Teravista Running Group at 5:30 am in Round Rock and my friend Mick graciously agreed to run 21 with me so I didn't have to suffer through it alone. We averaged around 7:50 pace through the first 18.5 miles, then we both started to struggle from the combination of heat, hills and just tired legs in general. I was able to hold it together another 1/2 mile, then cruised in easy at 8:30 pace for the last two miles. Headed to the lake afterwards for an easy swim to flush away impending tightness.

Sunday: 8 easy miles @8:22 pace. 1500m long course swim at Williams Drive Pool.
I intended to cycle and then run today, but after the past 2 nights of little sleep I decided I needed to get some extra zzzzz's and nixed the bike ride. I actually didn't even start my run until 10 am which is bat shit crazy in the summer here because of the heat, but I got it done. Wrapped up the day with a long course swim. I'm really lacking on getting in my bike miles; I do have one duathlon left this summer, but it's only a 16 mile bike portion so I can wing it. Hope to get on my bike sometime this week.

Total Running Miles: 69 miles
On Tap Next Week: 66 miles


I'm feeling really good so far in this training cycle. While I've always trained pretty high mileage, I was really unsure of how my body would respond to post-injury to 60-70 miles weeks. But, knock on wood, I haven't had any issues. Maybe this is mental, but I really think that swimming has helped me. I'm in the pool 5 days a week - not necessarily for super long or hard swims - and I can really tell that my core has become a lot stronger (which is key for the long runs) and my legs haven't had near as much soreness when I am swimming consistently.

My attempt at cleaning up my diet has been pretty good. Far from perfect, but sometimes a girl just wants pizza...or candy. (No Mexican food yet though, major victory).

My husband loves to call me out for my candy addiction.

Happy training!

Marble Falls Race Recap & Week 3 Marathon Training

I signed up for the Marble Falls Triathlon (my last triathlon of the summer) to use as a race to practice running on tired legs - in hopes of emulating those last few tough miles at the end of a marathon. Tired legs and just tiredness in general is what I got.

Things really caught up with me this week. Work stress in preparation for a big event this week and all of the running and cross training I have been doing led me to the point of sheer exhaustion by Friday. As icing on the cake, I came down with a small cold and just felt blah. I had 14 miles on schedule for Saturday, which I ended up cutting back to 8 miles. In hindsight I should have skipped it completely, but I am stubborn. So I ran 8 easy miles and then swam afterwards in hopes of trying to work out some soreness and general lethargy from my legs.

Onto the race. Marble Falls is a great race. This year they added a Sprint option, so Dan decided to race as well, which is always fun for me when we both race. My race was a 1,000m swim/23 mile bike/4.4 mile run.

1,000m swim/22:12: I am 99% sure this swim was long. I was swimming really strong, expecting to see a high 20 or low 21 on my watch when I exited the water, so was disappointed to see a 22 flash on my screen. But, looking at everyone else's swim times, they all appear to be slow, so I think the swim was long. I actually swam well in comparison to others in my age group, and even passed some of the men in the waves in front of mine. I'll take the small victories in the water where I can get them!

23 mile bike/1:18:49/17.5 mph: The bike course is hilly, but I've ridden that before so I knew that going into it. This course doesn't really play well in my favor as it's lots of rolling hills, and between my lack of time in the saddle lately and likely not using my gears most efficiently (indecision whether to be in my big or small chain ring) caused me to get passed a lot. Also, I stopped briefly as a rider who was a few cyclists in front of me flipped off his bike on Hwy 281 and his bike literally flew into the middle of the Highway. So, I stopped to check on him and make sure a volunteer was alerted and on their way. I do want to call out the a-holes who were in between me and this rider who JUST RODE RIGHT BY. I'm sorry, but this isn't Kona so is your race really that important that you can't stop or slow down when a fellow racer FLIPS off his bike? C'mon people, let's be decent human beings. Newsflash: if you are riding back where I was, then you're probably not in contention to win anyways. Anyway, I'm happy enough with my bike split.

4.4 mile run/30:19/6:53 pace: I knew the run would be where my race would start, and my goal was to keep my pace at sub-7. I was able to pass a lot of people on the run, without being passed and clocked in right at 30 minutes. Success. Week #3 of marathon training in the books.

Last Week:
Monday: 2300 yd swim/55 minutes core

Tuesday: (AM) Run Group: 9 miles.We did a hill rotation workout, alternating 10 minutes on three different sets of hills. (PM) 2500 yd swim

Wednesday: (AM) 12 miles @8:36 pace. (Lunch) 2100 yd swim

Thursday: (AM) Run Group: 11.52 miles. We did 20x200's with 200m recovery. Clocked them all around 5:25 pace. (PM) 14 mile bike ride; 500m open water swim

I was pretty excited about Thursday's workout :)

Friday: (AM) 30 mile bike ride/4 mile run @8:15 pace.

Saturday: 8 mile run @ 8:35 pace; 1000m open water swim

Sunday: Marble Falls Triathlon: 1000m swim/23 mile bike/4.4 mile run
Total Running Miles= 49 miles


This week will be my biggest running mileage so far in the training cycle: 69 miles. I'm a little nervous as to how this week with go with a big work event on Thursday night that will land me home around midnight that evening. I don't tend to sleep much before big work events, so I fear another week of being really tired is in my cards. My focus this week will be getting in my runs and not worrying about cross training. I'll also adjust if need be; I've still got this cold lingering and there's no use running myself into the ground.

The plan says:
Monday - Rest
Tuesday - 10 miles (speed)
Wednesday - 14 miles
Thursday - 11 miles (speed)
Friday - 5 miles
Saturday - 21 miles
Sunday - cycle/8 miles

Wordless Wednesday

How about a little hound dog for your Wednesday?

This is what we call Flash's "stink eye".

Sweet Lulu. Not a mean bone in her body.

Happy Wednesday!

Toughest 10K Race Recap & Marathon Training Week 2

I'm a few days late and a dollar short on Saturday's 10k race recap, so here goes...

40:38, 2nd female (by the hair of my chinny chin chin...5 seconds)

Before you think "Wow, how the heck did she run that fast", well, it's because the course measured short. Which was pretty disapointing because I really wanted a true gauge of my 10k fitness right now. So add at least a minute to that time, and that's probably where I stand. This was the 32nd annual running of this race so how the heck does the course measure short? Maybe it's because no one has actually told the race directors it measures short, because, hey times are faster so let's pretend it was actually 6.2 miles? I don't know. It's funny - everyone bitches when a course measures long, but you don't hear much complaining when it measures short.

The best comparison I could make was comparing my average pace for this race to my average pace of the last 10K I ran, which was in late April. My overall pace for this race was faster, and on a much tougher course, so I'll take that as a sign of improvement.

On to the race. I will say that this race lived up to it's name as the "Toughest 10k in Texas." I really didn't think it would be harder than the Capitol 10k, an Austin race notorious for its hills. But, I will honestly tell you that it was. Here's the thing about this course: it's was impossible to get into a rhythm because you never got a break from the hills. In most hilly races, the hills are spread out so you have some flats to recover before tackling the next hill. This race has a ton of turns, so you would run up a hill, turn, then immediately be faced with another one. I felt like my heart rate was sky high the entire time from climbing. Plus, it was hot (duh).

This was strategically a tough course to race. My plan was to ease into the race, but as I found in my warm-up, Mile 1 would be the only flat mile of the course. So, I felt if I didn't take advantage of the flat first mile and run it pretty hard, I really wouldn't be able to make up time later in the course. So, I ran the first mile hard and just tried to hang on. All of my miles were sub-7, but I wasn't able to keep my first mile pace throughout.

I was actually in 3rd place (female) until like the last quarter mile of the race. I had pretty much resigned myself to third - the second place female was always in eye sight, but she had some distance on me. Just before Mile 5, I noticed I was closing the gap on her as we were climbing the hills. I caught her at Mile 5, causing her to pick up the pace. I decided to be super annoying and hang right on her tail. With about 1/2 mile left, I tried to pass her, but she wasn't letting me pass her on the inside. Good strategic move on her part, but it pissed me off. So, I went around and passed her on the outside as we made a turn and then just dead sprinted to the finish to clip her by 5 seconds.

Despite the race being short, it was really a good deal. Only $20 for a chip timed "10k" can't be beat. I also conned my husband into running, and two of our other run group friends, Rain and Jessica, were running as well, so it was really nice to run the race with friends.

Below are some race photos, all courtesy of Rain:

Pre-race: Jessica, Rain and I

Jessica, Rain, me, Dan

Pre-race starting line: I'm very focused. :)

Headed to the finish line

2nd place....again

Last week's mileage:

Monday: (AM) 45 minutes strength/core; (Lunch) 2,400 yd swim

Tuesday: (AM) Run Group - 9.76 miles. We did 10x Yasso 800's with 3 min active recovery. Splits were:

3:17 (oops), 3:09, 3:11, 3:13, 3:11, 3:12, 3:10, 3:10, 3:15, 3:08; (PM) 2,550 yd swim

Wednesday: (AM) 14 miles @8:45 pace. These mid-week long runs continue to be really tough for me. (Lunch) 1,800 yd swim

Thursday: (AM) Run Group - 11.07 miles. Another tough workout...

Warm-Up
-10 minutes at Steady State Pace (pace that is slightly uncomfortable)
-5 x 2:00 acceleration...paced like running a 1200 rep on the track...with the recovery interval being 2:00 at your steady state pace
-10 minutes at Steady State Pace
Cooldown

Friday: Rest

Saturday: 10 miles (warm-up, 10k, cooldown); 2,300 yd swim

Sunday: 20.5 miles @8:24 pace; 1,000m open water swim. I'm happy to report another successful long run. As much as my Wednesday longer runs are sucking, my weekend long runs have been going great. I think my running partner is my good luck charm :). Brenda was kind enough to meet me again for some miles, and this week we added some hills into our route. I ran from home to meet her, so I took the first 2.5 miles on my own very easy to get my blood flowing; from there, most of our miles were in the mid/lower-8's. With the course, the weather, and the distance, I consider this a success. :)

Total Mileage: 65.33 miles

This week is a "step back" week, so my weekly mileage will be a little lower. I also have a triathlon on Sunday, so I'm looking forward to that!
Monday: Swim/Core
Tuesday: 8 miles (speed work)/Swim
Wednesday: 12 miles/swim
Thursday: 11 miles/cycle
Friday: Cycle/5 miles
Saturday: 14 miles/swim
Sunday: Marble Falls Triathlon (1,000m swim/23 mile bike/4.4 mile run)
Total Mileage: 55

And, this is now the longest post ever, so congratulations if you actually read the whole thing :)

Tomorrow I Race...

Somehow Friday snuck up on me this week - which usually doesn't happen, but it's been a really busy week at work. And, with the weekend, comes a 10K tomorrow in Lampasas, Texas. I've not run this race before, but I've been told it's a hilly beast, which would explain the name of the race - The Toughest 10k in Texas.

I actually welcome the hills and, of course, the obvious challenge of racing a 10k in the heart of the Texas summer heat. I welcome it all. Bring it on. All of it. The harder I work training through the Texas heat, the stronger runner I will become and in turn the better I will race come The Baltimore Marathon in October (which *should* be much cooler than any weather I will have trained in here). Baltimore also boasts a hilly course, so the more I can race on hills, the better off I will be. Hills don't scare me, if anything, I tend to race better on hillier courses.

While drinking my coffee this morning, I thought about my goals for this race. And, I don't really have any other than to run a strong race. This isn't an "A" race for me, nor have I altered any of my workouts this week to rest for it. I'd like to run not only a strong race, but a smart race. For some reason in 10k's, the middle miles always get me. I start out too fast for the first mile, miles 2-3 always seems to be abysmal, then I'm able to pick it up the last two. Tomorrow I hope to run the first three miles pretty evenly and somewhat conservatively, then drop the hammer the last 3 miles. If I can come in under 42 minutes, that will be great. If not, then no biggie.

I'm ready to do my best tomorrow - whatever that may be.

Have a great weekend!

Back When...

I subscribe to the Runner's World "Daily Kick in the Butt" which delivers a quote to my inbox every morning. This morning's quote was one I felt I had to share:

Somewhere behind the athlete you've become and the hours of practice and the coaches who have pushed you is a little girl who fell in love with the game and never looked back...play for her. -Mia Hamm

As I enter this training cycle completely focused on one end goal, that sub-3:10 marathon, it's easy to get so caught up in the training - hitting those goal paces, obsessing over splits and miles run, lamenting bad runs, being Garmin dependent- that you can forget where you came from. Why you started running in the first place.

I think back to circa 2004 - I had just moved to Texas after finishing up grad school in Louisville. I was out of shape and heavier than I wanted to be. I had done some running recreationally in college during my undergraduate years, and decided to slowly get back to it. When I returned to running, I did it without any expectation or pressure upon myself. I wore cotton running clothes; I ran without a Garmin (I didn't even own one); I wasn't fitted for proper running shoes; I didn't do any speed work; I avoided hills like the plague; I signed up for races just happy to finish. I ran because of the great feeling I would have when I finished a run. I was basically the complete opposite runner than I am today.

Circa 2004: My first race after getting back into running. No watch. Cotton clothing. Ill fitting shoes. This was a half-marathon: it took me over 2 hours to finish it.

So, when I get caught up in a bad run or bad attitude during this training cycle - it's bound to happen - I'll think back to the girl I was back then and remember the reasons I started running in the first place: for the simple joy of running. Because in the end, it's really not the numbers on the clock that matter, it's the simple and pure joy that the sport brings me.

Baltimore Marathon Training Week 1

It's Sunday evening, my feet are propped, my legs feel surprisingly good, and week 1 of Baltimore Marathon training is complete.

As somewhat of a shocker to me, my first week back into marathon training was not the miserable kick in the pants I expected it to be. I was a little apprehensive as I was taking on some heavy mileage, starting an 18 week plan 16 weeks in due to the Buffalo Springs Race at the end of June. But everything went well, despite a somewhat ugly run on Wednesday, and I am keeping my fingers crossed that this is a good omen for the training cycle.

Summary:
Monday: (AM) 3,450 yd swim; (Lunch) 40 min strength/core

Tuesday: (AM) Run Group - 9.76 miles (wu, 2x1600, 6 hill repeats, then another 2x1600, cd)
(PM) 2,500 yd swim

Wednesday: (Holiday) 13.53 mile run @ 8:38 pace. 1,000m Open Water Swim at Lake Pflugerville. This was a tough run for me. Since it was a holiday, I decided to get a little bit later start than I would on a normal workday. I was still out the door by 7 am, thinking I would still be beating the heat. The first half of the run went great, but by the second half my legs were screaming at me, the sun felt like it was frying me and I couldn't stay hydrated. My pace started to fall off, and I cut the planned 14 miles short. It was just one of "those" runs, and I immediately put it behind me. We all have those bad runs, and there is no use dwelling on them; it wasn't my first bad run, and it won't be my last.

Thursday:(AM) Run Group - 11 miles (wu, 2 x 400/800/2400/800/400 Meter Compound Set, cd)
(PM) 2,200 yd swim

Friday: (AM) 5 easy miles, watchless. (Lunch) 30 min core

Saturday:18.23 mile long run @8:23 pace. As bad as Wednesday's long miles went, Saturday's miles were the complete opposite. I credit the great company I had on the run, because not only did the miles fly by effortlessly (thanks Rain and Brenda!), I didn't have any leg/hip pain or discomfort whatsoever. As much as I crashed on Wednesday, positive splitting the heck out of the run, Saturday's run produced negative splits. I came home glowing and excited. I headed to the Lake afterwards for an 1,000m open water swim to shake out the legs.

Sunday: Brick Workout: Cycle 30 miles/17.0 mph, Ran 5 miles off the bike @8:10 pace.
I woke up early Sunday morning to head out to Brushy Creek to bike the hills of Parmer and reunite myself with my bike. I felt really good; no leg soreness from Saturday's long run; and it was a perfect day for cycling - overcast with light wind. I got off my bike and ran 5 solid miles before calling it a wrap for the week. I really want up keep up cross training in the form of biking.  It is really difficult to fit in a decent bike ride – since I need to wait til it’s light out (whereas I can run in the dark) and since it is weather dependent (I run in rain and even storms; biking – no way). But I'm trying to juggle around my schedule to make it work.


Total Running Miles: 62.5

Diet: I ate much better (for me!). No eating out, no alcohol, no candy or ice cream, or Mexican food all week! I really didn't even have any treats (though I was tempted by frozen yogurt several times). It's too early to say if it's making a difference in my running, but I am interested to see if there are changes as I continue this process.

This Week's Schedule:
Monday: Long Swim, Core
Tuesday: 9 mi/speed work, swim
Wednesday: 14 miles, swim
Thursday: 12 miles/speed, swim
Friday: Rest or Easy Cycle
Saturday: "Toughest 10K in Texas" 10k (Lampassas) + 2 mi wu, 2 mi cd
Sunday: 20 miles, swim
Total Miles: 65

Two Good Marathon Training Speed Workouts

I hope everyone had a good 4th of July! If only we had a day off in the middle of the week every week...Unfortunately I did not eat hot dogs and drink beer like most of the population, but I did eat salad, drink water and go to bed before the fireworks which makes me....lame.

I wanted to share two good marathon-focused speed workouts that I came across and put into action this week. I, along with another friend, lead a Tuesday/Thursday morning run group and I am always on the lookout for new workouts to mix things up. With many people training for Fall marathons, we've turned to more marathon-focused longer speed workouts. I really liked the workouts we did this week, and wanted to share should you be looking for some workout ideas.

1 -2x1600m (mile) tempo pace, 2-6 x hill repeats, followed by another 2x 1600m at tempo pace.
The challenge with this workout is to not to let the pace of your second set of 1600's drop too much after the hill repeats. The hill we used was about .12 of a mile in length, which if you did 6 repeats, ended up being a little more than a mile in hills (counting the run back down the hills). To run 2 more miles uptempo, after running a mile of hills (preceded by 2 tempo miles) was tough, but I felt like it was a good simulation of the marathon itself as it's inevitable that you will be running on tired legs once you hit Mile 20 - and are faced with the challenge of not letting your pace fall off. I also liked how this workout combined speed and strength. For the mile course, I choose a course that started out flat/downhill on the front end, before a steady incline on the back end; again, having the uphill on the back half of the mile course challenged you to work harder not to let your pace fall off.

My legs felt pretty good on Tuesday after only cross training on Monday. The workout went like this for me:
2 x 1600 (6:36, 6:30); 6 x hill repeats (1.2 miles @7:31 pace); 2 x 1600 (6:39, 6:47) 
I fell off some the last mile, but was able to keep them all under 7 min.

2 - 2 x 400/800/2400/800/400 Meter Compound Sets
This is a marathon specific compound set.
Description: Run 400 meters at mile pace, 800 meters at 5K pace and 2400 meters at goal marathon pace. Then begin increasing pace again with 800 meters at 5K pace and 400 meters at mile pace. Take no recovery between the components of the compound set. Repeat 1 more time for a total of 2 compound sets.

Recovery: No recovery within each compound set. Recover between each compound set with 3 minutes of passive rest.

This was a TOUGH workout; 6 miles of speed work with little rest. This is also a workout that needs to be done on fresh(er) legs (or maybe it was more benefit on tired legs?).

Coming off of 14 miles yesterday, I struggled with this workout a little bit this morning.
-Compound Set 1 - 3.05 miles/21:46/7:08 avg pace
-Compound Set 2 - 3.05 miles/22:26/7:21 avg pace 

I struggled to hit my targets on the second compound and it ended up being much slower than the first. Hitting that mile pace at the end of the second compound was pushing it for me. I look forward to doing this workout again later in my training cycle to see how I've improved (and hopefully I will improve).

Okay that's all. Run Nerd Out.

Operation Sub 3:10 Commence

After racing Buffalo Springs last weekend, I took it easy last week and even easier this weekend. With only an 8 miler on tap Saturday and nothing planned for today, I have to admit I felt pretty lazy. I resisted the urge to head out the door this morning to run or to the pool this afternoon to swim. I knew my body needed rest, especially with marathon training, otherwise known as Operation Sub-3:10 or bust, beginning tomorrow.

My marathon PR is 3:10:25, and I am determined to break it this Fall at the Baltimore Marathon. In the past I've never followed a training plan for the marathon. I've just done what I want, when I want and it's worked pretty well for me, but I don't know that I've really tapped into my potential with haphazard training. So, this time around, I want to give it my best shot and I believe that means following a training plan.

I selected Pete Pfitzinger's 18/70 plan, shortening it to 16 weeks due to racing Buffalo Springs. I'll continue to swim often and cycle some, as well as adding two weekly core workouts back into my routine. I'm also going to make some nutritional changes (sigh) instead of shoving what I want down my pie hole simply because I feel so entitled because I run. A nutritional plan is an area that I've never really committed too (although I can't say I'm completely convinced it makes a big difference), so I figured if I've committed to this goal, then I need to commit across the board. So...this means the big bag of candy (tootsie rolls, tootsie roll pops and other goodness) is going to the office; no alcohol during this training cycle (bye bye delicious craft brews in my fridge); Mexican food (main culprits being chips and queso); sugary cereal; ice cream and pretty much everything I eat at Uptown Social (local place) on a regular basis.

We'll see how it goes. Here's what's on tap for this week:
Monday: Long Swim/Core
Tuesday: 9 mi (speed work)/swim
Wednesday: 14 mi easy/swim
Thursday: 11 mi (speed work)/core
Friday: 5 mi easy/swim
Saturday: 18 mi Long Run
Sunday: Brick - Cycle/5 mi run
Total Weekly Miles: 62 miles

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to whittle down my bag of candy before tomorrow hits...