Learning To Run (again)

Last year at this time I was feeling pretty nervous about running the marathon; not that dissimilar from how a pregnant woman approaches child birth.  I never claimed to be a runner and could barely pull out 1 mile of slow jogging.  However, I had faith in the DFMC team and their amazing coach, Jack Fultz.  Jack had a training schedule for every kind of runner and, as my 4:58:00 finish demonstrated, the training plan worked.  Now in all fairness to Jack, had I actually followed his plan and not just the 40% that I chose to follow, I could have easily shaved 30 minutes off of my time, but life and Gus, often got in the way.

Back to square one

Fast forward to today.  In the past seven days I have logged 11 miles.  For a true runner, logging 11 miles in a week is a joke.  Even for my non-running self, there were many weekends last year when I would run more than 11 miles in one day, even double that in only a morning.  Unfortunately, since those long-runs, I took a lengthy hiatus from running and feel like I'm back to square one.  Naturally, I'm getting the butterflies again.  

Ignorance is bliss

The nice thing about being a first timer facing any daunting task is the excitement that you carry in to it and the simple fact that you have no idea what you're getting in to (e.g. I thought I wasn't going to need pain meds when I delivered Gus and then the nurses at the end of the hall asked if "the screaming lady" was OK).  Similarly, I went into the 2011 Boston Marathon knowing I could run 22 miles and assumed that an extra 4.2 wouldn't be a problem.  As I learned around mile 24, the extra 4 miles can make a difference- the glycogen stores are depleted, Gatorade breaks are far less exciting, and the thought of chewing on one more bouillon cube is almost nauseating.  

How to face Boston again?  

Luckily, a good friend donated some salt drops to me, so bouillon cubes are a thing of the past (thanks Todne!).  More importantly, I've come to realize the critical role that preparation plays.  In order to destroy this year's marathon and have enough energy to give out high-fives down the BC student line and through the finish, I'm going to need to train.  So, to keep me honest I will be laying out the week's training plan on Sundays and reporting back each week.  

This Week's Running Forecast

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
3.5 Mile Run around Boston with Gus	1 Hour Cycling on Trainer	3.5 Mile Run around Boston with Gus	3.5 Mile Run around Boston with Gus	1 Hour Yoga	6 Mile Run around Cambridge	REST!!! Yayyyy!

Motivation wanted!

Are YOU running, hiking, cycling, skiing, swimming, etc this week?  Share your plans here to give me even more motivation.  

Looking to Lance for some inspiration...