Sooooooooooo...I admit...I've been a bit lax after the Oak Bay Half. I was riding the high of a PB, easing back a bit on the workouts and had a fantastically chill long Victoria Day weekend. I'm fully enjoying this break because now it's time to get down to business and get on the marathon train!
I registered for the Running Room online clinic...there's actually lots of run clinics in Victoria, but they always do their long runs on Sundays (doesn't work for Hubs and I want to keep running with him) and they do their speedwork after work on weekdays (I get sidestitches no matter how many hours earlier I stop eating - yes, I know, I'm so much trouble). Sometimes I get a little wistful as it would be cool to meet other runners, but the online clinic has lots of forums so maybe I'll get to meet some friends virtually. The running community is pretty tight knit and supportive of each other so I'm looking forward to it!
First day of this marathon cycle - June 5th and then 18 weeks of nose-to-the-grindstone training. I'm going to stick with doing bootcamp a few times a week as I honestly feel that if I'm stronger overall, my running will be better. I really didn't like how weak I got last year and we do a fair amount of running and hillwork in bootcamps. So my week will look something like this:
Sun: rest
Mon: bootcamp
Tues: medium run
Wed: medium run (or bootcamp)
Thurs: rest
Fri: bootcamp
Sat: long run
Other things that I'll be doing this training cycle - I promise I will stretch every night and I promise I will do my exercises...basically I'll do whatever it takes to get my butt across that finish line! I'm going to do up a big calendar, post it up where I can see it daily and mark off runs/exercises as I complete them - I'm all about the visual! And of course, I'm going to pay a little visit to my physio every month and maybe slightly more leading up to the marathon to make sure I stay healthy and injury free.
Nutrition is also going to pay a bigger part of this cycle as well. Last year...sigh...I admittedly packed on more weight than I would have liked, as I definitely used all the running as an excuse to eat everything in sight. And not super healthy stuff either. Not this year! I'm logging all my food into My Fitness Pal, so I keep an eye on making sure I balance my food and I'm going to really try to focus on keeping the diet clean (with one off day per week in moderation). Doing the Ten Pound Challenge has really helped my running so I'm going to work hard to keep my weight steady. And....I really don't want to have to do another challenge during Christmas, like I did last year! Seriously, that almost killed me. Ha!
So time goal, you're probably all wondering? I would be absolutely thrilled beyond belief if I finished in 4:30 so will focus my training on that time. I have no illusions of grandeur of a sub four hour, and honestly just want to finish feeling good and enjoying the experience of my first marathon - you only get one first marathon so I really want it to be a good one!
And...as a reward after the marathon - Hubs and I are heading to Maui again! We were going to skip a year and not go since we already went to Hong Kong...but there was an amazing seat sale on Westjet...and well, we just had to. So we've booked to go Oct 18 - 25, so about a week and a half after the marathon. The bad thing is...because we're taking that time off, I'll be using up all my vacation so I'll have to go to work the next day after the race...aaaaaaand....there are lots of stairs at work. The good thing though is that hopefully I'll be recovered enough to be able to enjoy it, as we were originally trying to fly out the next day. I told Hubs he'd have to piggy back me throughout the airports!
I'm excited. I'm hepped up. Game face on. Marathon Quest 2011, here we go!
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