Week 2... 32 weeks to go

It's good that I am still five or six weeks from having to get serious about training.

I'm not a fan of the treadmill, but it's the only way that I am able to log miles through the winter... one of the first things I discovered when I started working again was that there's just no way that I can get out and run after work.  There are dinners to cook, homework to complete, activities to shuttle the kids to and from.  It's either run at 5:30 each morning or don't run at all.  So I begrudgingly drag myself out of bed and drive over to the YMCA and log a few miles.

By the time training season starts in March, the days will be getting a little longer, which means there will be light outside by 5:30 and I can get back outside.  The warmer temperatures will help too.  The older I get, the less interest I have in being cold.  I've got all the cold-weather running gear - I just prefer not to use it.

So, where do things stand two weeks into the new year?

Last week was not the best week for running.  I missed a day at the gym, so my mileage was down (just over 12 miles last week).  Weekend company kept me from getting outside on a beautiful (warm) winter's afternoon, though I wouldn't have traded the family time for anything.

What's next?

I'm starting to read through training programs with a little more interest now, knowing that I will need to settle on the thing that seems like it will best fit my life and my goals soon enough... it's both intimidating and exciting!

I'll keep you posted!

Week one... or 33 weeks to go

At this stage of the game, I am not officially in training mode.  I'm in get myself psyched up mode, which means talk it up.  Tell people this is a goal I want to accomplish this year and then go really public with it.  It's much harder to walk away from once you go public.  Accountability helps to keep me on track.

I'm looking for a good six-month training plan... that means that I won't really begin training until the first day of March.  But in the meantime, I understand there needs to be a certain baseline of fitness and that's what I am working on now.  

Time and again, I read that as a "beginner", I should have a base of 15 to 20 miles per week when I officially begin training.  

So, where do I stand after the first full week of the year?

This past week, I ran four times for a total of 17.2 miles.  I even got outside for a run this week... a good reminder that while the treadmill is better than nothing, it's nowhere near as good as running outdoors.  It's also a good reminder that it will probably be to my advantage in the coming months to adjust the incline on the treadmill so that at least a portion of my workout isn't completely flat.

The next week will be challenging... my husband is traveling on business which limits my running time considerably.  But I will do my best to get a workout or two in during the week and also a run in next weekend.  

Then the following week, I'll start working my way to the higher end of that "beginner's base".

Stay tuned.

Run, Forest, Run

I've been neglecting my other blog, After One Crazy Summer, for a while... 

Without actively looking through my old posts, I cannot recall the last thing that I wrote about which tells me that it's been entirely too long since I've written anything.  And I miss writing.  Sure, I do some writing at work, but it's all about what flaws I see in your investment portfolio and what my company can do to better diversify your assets and how we can transition those assets in a tax-sensitive manner.  It's fine, but it's not the same as a blog.

The original premise of After One Crazy Summer was to document all my travels with the kids during our "Summer of Fun" (also known as the summer I was unemployed).  I love to look back over those posts, to see the things we were doing back then.  And to remember what a gift the Summer of 2011 really was. 

But since the kids are both in school and I am working full-time, if I limit myself to trips with the kids, I won't write all that much this year (see 2012 if you don't believe me).

So instead, I am going to do something different.  A new blog about this crazy notion that at 43, I can run my first marathon.   For the record, I am not 43 yet.  But I would be on marathon day...

When I first started running again almost four years ago, a good friend planted the idea of running a marathon in my head... he wanted to run something like the Marine Corp Marathon in Washington DC and suggested it be a really great accomplishment and why don't I just think about doing it with him.

For a long time I was pretty adamant that I wouldn't do it. 

I compromised.  Said I would try a half and see how it went... I ran the Nittany Valley Half Marathon back in 2010 and I've run two ten-mile races (the Broad Street Run in Philadelphia) since then as well.  I can do that 'middle' distance and still walk the next day.

Everyone I know who has run a marathon has told me that it's a completely different experience compared to the half-marathon (beyond the notion that it takes twice as long).  That the recovery is much longer and more painful.  But, what the heck... I am not getting any younger.  I even have the roots to prove it.  If I am ever going to do it, this is probably as good a time as any.

This September, the Mount Nittany Conservancy is sponsoring the inaugural Mount Nittany Marathon.  It's local.  And it's a $50 entry fee.  It would be impossible to find something, anything else, so convenient and affordable.  So, I have a race in mind... but that is the easy part.

The hard part is where I actually train for the race.  I've been looking for marathon training programs and think a six-month program is the best approach for a 'beginner' (you are considered a 'beginner' if you are currently running 15 to 20 miles per week).  I'm close to the low end of that distance now, running about 12 to 15 miles a week, so my first goal is to tack on a few extra miles a week.  Come March 1, I'll start following a yet-to-be determined training program.

And I'll write about it here, in this new blog.  Hopefully not in that dull, oh-my-God, how can she want us to read this sort of way.  But in a way that's a little entertaining and maybe a little inspiring as you are looking at your own fitness goals for the new year.

At least that's the plan for now... stay tuned!