The Plan

I thought I should write a little about what I'm doing, mostly because writing things down makes them more official.


The basic schedule, a week in the life of a marathoner wannabe, goes something like this:

• Sunday - Strength training, full-body
• Monday - Low-impact cardio (bike, elliptical), about 45 mins
• Tuesday - Running workout (hills, speed, etc.), basically I have to push myself in some way, usually end by a mile or so of medium-effort running to shake out the tension
• Wednesday - Strength training, full-body
• Thursday - "Easy run" of around 3 miles.  I've been starting these out pretty easy and then pushing up the intensity for a while at some point.
• Friday - Off, and hypothetically to bed at a reasonable time
• Saturday - Long run, increase by a mile or so per week

All of this is currently being done at the gym (cardio) or at my house (strength).  As I get closer to the race and the weather gets better, I'll probably mix it up with some long bike rides, and hikes, and recovery cardio on Sundays.  As for strength training, I'm following a routine I established last summer, just because I don't have to think too hard about it.  Since I've been a slacker about that stuff for months, it's still difficult and new enough to be useful.  I'll start changing it up in a few weeks.

In addition to all of this, I have a couple of non-race goals.  I want to lose 17 pounds and change my body composition to the "healthy" range.  I am sort of astounded that my body composition appears to be out of whack, but it's a good overall health goal.  I have one of those hand-held thingies coming in the mail and while I realize they're not super accurate, they tend to be consistent so I can at least track the change if not know the exact number.  I know that this is more realistic than the weight loss (most people maintain or gain during endurance training because their bodies keep demanding fuel, and they quite rightly supply), but I am pretty chill about the weight thing.  I'm following a calorie intake that should result in less than a pound of loss per week, which means that I'm eating quite a bit.  I am also keeping better track of what I eat, both substance and balance of carbs/protein/fat.  I have stopped packing a big lunch and instead pack a series of snacks so I eat 100-200 calories/hour all day. 

Right now everything feels awesome.  I always forget how exhilarating the transition from inactive to active is.  Let's see how well I keep it up!