Friday, July 30, 2010

Ready, Set, Marathon (Training)

It’s been a long road to recovery and needless to say it’s nice to be back. I think I can confidently say that I’ve learned more about listening to your body in the past five weeks than ever before in my entire life.

Fortunately, knock on wood, that is all behind us and we can get back to the next task at hand.

First, I have to give a little plug to dreaming big and always challenging yourself. Not so long ago, I thought having dreams and going after some pretty lofty goals was just for naïve little kids but now I don’t really see how anyone could live without new challenges and adventures. Yes, I know how silly and parental it sounds (shout out to my cheesy parents) but hey, even I’m allowed one cheesy comment once a year, right?

Anyway, this is why I’m going to bust my tail for the next three months and try my hardest to qualify for Boston on October 31st. Which brings me to the rest of my post and the topic of my posts for the next few months.

I’ve never been one to follow a specific training schedule/program. I’d much rather improvise and tweak as I go so that I’m not locked into any real specifics. I’ll attribute this to my inability to plan ahead or create a schedule. So as I start ramping up my mileage and introduce some weekly speedwork, I’m left debating how closely I should follow a marathon plan and how much cross-training I can throw in. The last thing I want to do is lose my multisport strength but I still need to optimize my training so I can be as fast as possible on October 31st.

I’m not sure that question will ever be answered but when I write in the blog three months from now, I hope I’m doing so with confidence. Otherwise, I’m screwed. Either way, it’ll be a fun few months.

For all those loyal followers – you may want to get used to reading about – my brutal Wednesday night workouts (my best test for increased speed), Michael (coworker, extremely fast runner in his heyday, and rational training partner), my inevitable, epic battle with the snooze button, and my love for fall weather in DC.

1 comment:

  1. Love the addition of the Ironman picture on the blog ... about time! Sounds like your foot and knee tweaks are better, but take care on the soccer pitch at all times. Wish you all the best in your marathon training ... send me dates for the October event and I'll see if attendance is in the cards.

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