The Plan Is In Hand

I dropped a big bomb on you (& me) late last week.  I’m running the freakin NEW YORK MARATHON!  Yeah, let that sink in for a minute.  I’ve been trying for two years through the lottery to get in with no success and then Asics came a long and invited me to run on their blogger team but we’re not just running.  We will be documenting our journey to the finish all the way through.  All of the Webisodes will be available on Asics site as well as here so make sure you have subscribed to my feed so you ‘ll be the first to see them.

So a little update…since last Thursday, we took a quick family trip to Chicago.  The kids had a blast.  We did a lot of walking but I had run 5 on Thursday before we left and so really the only day off I took was Saturday.  By Sunday evening we were home and I did a quick 3 mile interval run at home.  Monday I had the day off and knowing what I was in for I took off to do a 10 mile run.  I really wanted to hit 12 but 10 was all I had in me.  I went to Forest Park here in St. Louis.  I love this park but it is a challenging run.  One loop is 6 miles-ish so I was aiming for two loops.

Goals

The first 6 were really good but the last four were not so good.  I ended up walking some during those last miles but I did use that run as a gut check of sorts to help me figure out a goal.

• Do I want to try to go fast?
• Do I want to try to run it all at half marathon pace?
• Do I want to run it all?

All things I considered.  Then reality set in and I started to think clearly about what I wanted from this overall experience and what I didn’t want.  I came up with my priorities:

• Have fun
• Cross the finish line
• Enjoy the journey and the course
• Injury Free
• Ideally stay about 10:00 to 10:15 pace (I’m being honest and transparent).

Those might not sound flashy or super ambitious to you but for me, the last thing I want to do is stress about trying to achieve something arbitrarily.  I kind of consider this my first marathon again and so I’m starting with that mentality.

So to date I’ve officially signed up for the marathon..YEAH and have met with our coach..Coach Kastor.  We talked about my goals, which I just shared, my current fitness level and challenges.  Out of that, he created a plan to get me across the finish.  So between now and November 1st,  I’ll give you a glimpse into training plan and my updates as well.

Planned Workouts

This week’s workouts:

• Today: 30-45 min easy run
• Tomorrow (Thursday): 30 min Cross Training
• Friday: Rest Day
• Saturday: 30-45 Min easy plus 5 (15 sec) strides
• Sunday: 11-12 Miles @ Goal Marathon Pace

So my next marathon training question is what are you favorite running songs?

I need energy….excitement….and a good beat!  GO!