Let's GO!

If you want it you can get it let me know.

or...

HOKIES!

Either applies.

There are now less than 32 weeks to my date with destiny, and all is well so far. I decided after a few of the first runs (including the 3.5 mile run last post) that I don't really know what it is I'm doing as far as training goes while I headed out on the same path everyday. To both educate myself and find new motivation with purpose, I invested in a book that details a full training guide for your first marathon or your 50th.

It details a strict 18 week program that has been tested and proven to work for hundreds of athletes, young and old, and from beginners to the racing elite (with varying degrees of intensity, naturally). The only catch is that the author recommends you to have the ability to run 3 miles or a 5k without having to breathe too heavy when you start the 18 weeks.

So, because the race is quite a ways away, and that 18 week window also being some time from now, I've been taking things extra slow to ensure that 1)I don't hurt myself in the process and 2)I am without any question fit enough to take on the training.

In the near three and a half weeks since last post, I've significantly turned the intensity of the runs down. Instead of trying hard to reach the end of the 3rd mile (as was the process previously), I'll run for time instead. Beginning on the 25th, I started running for about 18 minutes at a time every other day. It seemed a cinch after the 3.5 miler the previous time, but I learned quickly that keeping at that pace or mindset would bring me either injury or frustration if not both as the runs got longer.

By the 1st, I was on a cruise in the Caribbean with a bunch of my friends from Tech, and it was a really good time that I wish could have been longer. Despite being at sea for a week, however, I still managed to both run AND build up from the previous week. 21 minutes every other day this time around on the ship's treadmills.

Here's a bunch of the group in the hot tub and another of my favorite photos from the trip:




The next week (Mar. 9th) was hard to get back to work, but not hard at all to get running. I upped the time to 24 minutes, and got pretty close to 3 miles if I didn't actually get it.

This week (Sun 16th) I started running for 27 minutes. Today's run was a bit more difficult than most in the past because I was overdressed, dehydrated, and got a nasty cramp in the first mile or so that thankfully subsided as I trudged on. Sleep had probably also been a factor as well, as I had been awakened by my dog to go to the bathroom at 2 in the morning the night before, and took a long time to get back to sleep, right before I got up at 5 for the work day. It was easily a solid 3 miles, but not the type I wanted to feel by doing "the right thing". Hopefully I won't have too many nights like that when I start the real training, but I think it's to be expected sometimes.

This Saturday is a big day for me too. It marks the first half hour run I'll attempt, and the last of the every other day runs. Sunday I will rest, but try to run every day next week and see how that works out.

P&L till next time,
Be Easy