Back in the Saddle Again

On Monday, I officially started my training plan for the Rock 'n Roll Arizona Marathon in January. In the three weeks following our marathon, I was the runner's version of a sloth: I vacationed, I went to an out of town wedding and I ran ten miles. For a normal person, or non-runner, this probably doesn't sound like sloth-style living, but my former catholic guilt has apparently transferred to my running life. I felt lazy, purposeless, like I was losing tons of fitness and a little dirty for my three weeks "off." ************************************************************************************* In order to make up for three weeks of pain-free living, I set ambitious goals for my training this time around. Since I would really like to cut nearly an hour off my marathon time for this next race, I need some serious commitment to training. That's something I didn't exactly have last time. I probably did about 5% of my cross-training, 50% of my core work and about 75% of my running. This time, I would like to average about 80% of each. It's unrealistic to think I won't need a break here and there in the next fifteen weeks, but I should be able to complete most of my training days. ************************************************************************************* Well, here's the report of week 1. I did 66% of my running and 33% of my cross-training and core work. That leaves me at 50% for this week's training. I could make excuses, such as: "due to a shooting in my neighborhood and fear of death, I didn't run on Wednesday" or "my parents were in town and it would have been rude / impossible to cross-train during their visit". Both those things would be true, they just don't get me any closer to a 12-minute/mile pace in AZ. So, as I close out week one and head into week two, I am going to be optimistic. I spend four of my six training days this week in Dallas and the hotel has a top notch workout room. No excuses this week!