Marathon Training Begins!

Happy New Year! I rang in the new year with my boyfriend in Vegas. We explored the strip, did a little gambling, and ate a lot of good food!

The one thing I didn't do over New Years weekend was exercise. (unless you count the hours of walking). The day I got there, New Year's Eve, I had been up for almost 24 hours by the time the festivities ended and it was finally bed time. I didn't sleep well, and I hadn't eaten very regularly or well, and I had inhaled tons of second hand smoke (ew). I elected not to run, and instead to just relax and enjoy my vacation, and get serious about working out upon my return!

I got my weekly progression of long runs leading up to the marathon the other day. It is SCARY. Now, I know I've done a half ironman, but I never have run more than 2:15 min or 15 miles. I have no concept of how slow to even start/finish runs in the 3-4 hour regime! My longest run in the plan is 4:30, and 3 weeks before the big day. I realize that I have a lot of time between now and then, but it is totally freaking me out. 4 and a half hours of running!? How can I carry enough water? Where will I go to the bathroom? Do I have to do loops by my house to stock up on supplies, or can I do a really long crazy route like where we go biking? Will I even be able to make it? So much to think about!

I had a talk with my friend at lunch today about getting into the unknown times/distances. She is just finishing a couch potato to 5k plan, and thinking about what to do next- how far to run, how to get faster, and how she has learned to 'slow down' for the longer run times in order to successfully run the whole thing. I feel like I am going to be back in that boat as I tackle the complete unfamiliarity of longer than 2.5 hour runs. Thinking ahead to the 4.5 hours is scary, but I know that is just because it is a long way from now- I have several months of slowly increasing long runs before I have to deal with that. I just have to be patient...

I decided (yet again) that I will attempt to be better at blogging this marathon journey. I'm going to try to do some weekly (at least) recaps of the workouts I'm doing. I'm planning to do some triathlons this summer, so I'm still going to keep track of swimming and biking progress too. So here goes. 17 weeks to go!

My flight from Vegas got in very late Monday night, so I ended up working out Tuesday afternoon instead of morning. I used to be pretty dead set on morning workouts, but lately I have embraced sleeping in a bit and working out before dinner. I did a trainer ride to some Felicity episodes as my first workout of 2012.

I had a swim on both Weds and Fri mornings, so I headed to the pool on the most frigid morning of the year so far (7 degree low! we are approaching chicago temperatures!) and was thankful to get into the warm water! I had 600s to do - broken into 1x600, 2x300, 3x200 and 6x100. I really enjoy these workouts because the longest chunk is over the earliest, and before you know it you're halfway done and have only small little chunks to go.

At lunch that day I went on a short 20 min run with my marathon training buddy. I haven't ever really been a fan of lunchtime workouts, but I do recognize their usefulness, especially in the dead of winter where that's the only time for sunlight and "warmer" temperatures. It was in the 20s when we headed out, and I totally overdressed. I was happy to be sweating, though, instead of shivering. It was a great pick me up- and a great way to socially spend the lunch hour and get off site. I guess I will have to start incorporating these more often!

Thursday I had another trainer ride, but I managed to do this one in the morning, as I had dinner plans that night. More Felicity. I'm breezing through the show with all these winter trainer rides!

Friday I had another swim. This one had looked extremely intimidating to me- both in volume and speed. I had a series of 15 200s- small chunks getting faster and faster, and a few all out fast! I have done "fast" 50s or 100s before, but the idea of holding a "fast" pace for 4 laps totally freaked me out. However, I plowed through, and despite my fear, ended up with consistent times from my first fast 200 to my last! I felt like that was a success- completing a "scary" workout with consistency.

Saturday I had a 2.5 hour training ride. I was extremely intimidated by this, because that is a LONG time to be on a stationary bike. Looking back on this, I realized I should have tried to do this outside- we had an unseasonably warm day - it got into the 50s! But, alas, too little too late. (I also wore my parka to an 11 am meeting I had, and felt extremely ridiculous because it was so warm!). I ended up switching my TV show loyalty and watched some of my so called life. It's fun to watch all these shows that I never watched when I was the appropriate age... Anyway, I got through the workout, and felt pretty accomplished, and set forth to the rest of the day.

Today I had the first of my series of long runs building towards the marathon! 1:20 min. I set out on my usual path and had a great time and completed about 9 miles. I kept it at a comfortable pace, but I also was thinking ahead to how I am going to have to be really careful to keep it slow as the times increase and increase!

So that's that. The new year is off to a great start!