Thursday, December 30, 2010

Clean Slate

"We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day."

~Edith Lovejoy Pierce

Every year, I debate whether or not to make "resolutions". As much as I hate them, I just can't help but feel like the new year is my chance at a clean slate. As 2010 comes to a close, I have spent a lot of time beating myself up over my failures of the year. I haven't lost any weight, in fact I've probably gained. I haven't been doing much running at all. I've probably ran the least miles I have ever run in a year.

On the other hand, I have made a lot of changes this year, and some accomplishments. I may not have run many miles overall, but I ran
5 Half Marathons,
1 Full Marathon,
1 8-man/80-mile relay,
and various races of shorter distances.

I also moved myself and my 2 kids 300+ miles from the area we've lived for the past 15+ years (and 300 miles away from all the help from my parents). I've started in a new position at work where I travel about 50% of the time (which I love, by the way, the job and the travel).

So, what does 2011 hold for me? Well, clearly, I get to start a fresh new chapter. I can't wait for that.
I'm not going to set any arbitrary goals for myself (although I have already committed to at least 2 marathons for the year and various other races).
Instead of saying I will lose xx pounds or run yyyy miles, I'm going to take it as it comes. Of course, it's crazy to say that I don't have some hope in mind for what I think I want to accomplish. I'm going to make it my #1 new year's resolution to forgive myself if I don't meet all my expectations.

I also have some goals in mind for work and for my personal life. I can pretty much boil it down to this: Focus. I have so many things that need to get accomplished, that it's impossible to think I can get it all done when I would like for it to get done, at work and at home. My second resolution is to focus on the task at hand and cross things off my to-do list one at a time without getting overwhelmed.

That's it. I feel good about giving myself a break. Hopefully, I'll follow through with it and have a more positive outlook in 2011 than I've had in 2010.

Monday, December 20, 2010

Training Plan, Weeks 1 and 2

So, here we are, Day 2 of marathon training for St Louis.

I purposely scheduled no running yesterday. The way I had it planned, I would have 0 runs on days I have to be in the office for the first 2 weeks of my plan. This way, I can be miserable in peace while I try to get back some level of fitness.



Week 1, 12/20-12/26



Tuesday, 12/21: 6 miles (work from home)

Thursday, 12/23: 5 miles, include 3 miles tempo run (vacation day)

Sunday, 12/26: 10 miles



Week 2, 12/27 - 1/2



Tuesday, 12/28: 5 miles (vacation day)

Friday, 12/31: 5 miles, include 2x1600 (holiday)

Sunday, 1/2: 12 miles


As it turns out, today I wound up shoveling snow during the time I would have normally been running.

Soooo, for week 1, I will either run later this afternoon (unlikely), or change to Thursday and Friday running, with the long run remaining on Sunday. Honestly, I really could have ran this morning and shoveled during my lunchtime, but I elected to sleep in instead.

Was it worth it?

Absolutely not. :/

Maybe I'll remember that the next time I hit the snooze button...

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

T Minus 6 Days

Until Marathon training starts! So, I haven't really been running lately, but I will be running at least one marathon in the Spring. And, I will be posting my weekly goals and results here on a regular basis as well.

I'm already looking at the plan that I printed out last week and deciding what changes I will make so that it will fit my schedule. I am lucky enough to have the opportunity to work from home a day or two every week (when I'm not traveling). I will be planning my longer mid-week runs on work from home days when I don't have to worry about getting dressed for work afterwards. :)
Also, my long run for the first week falls on Christmas. One thing I learned from Thanksgiving, I won't do my long run on a holiday when I'm staying at my parents' house.

I will be posting my Week One plan on Sunday. Let's see if I can go from Couch to Marathon in 16 weeks. (I know I can, let's hope I can do it gracefully)