Destination: St. George, Utah
Arrival Date: October 3rd
Today marks the official kick-off to another round of marathon training. I'm feeling very strong about this, very determined and was quite motivated to get a solid workout in today. My buddy boB ...yeah no typo there ... he always says that when he seriously wants to go after a BQ he'll really buckle down. Train like a mofo and do everything full steam ahead (nutrition, cross training, tune-ups, etc). In other words, make your training nearly your singular focus. Nearly b/c hey, we gotsta still work.
I think about that often and the way I figure it today is then.
Today is when.
Today is always then. When.
And so I push myself off into 20 weeks of challenges, rewards, sweat and hard work. Nothing like a challenging work day to spring me into tonight's activities. I've been working in our DUMBO office for some time now and I still can't get the damn timing right on the slow ass A train. Adding insult to injury I needed to bring my laptop home for some work tonight and it weighs a friggin' ton. Oh and the subway isn't just around the block, it's a little bit of a jaunt... a nice scenic jaunt but a jaunt nonetheless. I left work a bit too late but hustled up the hill to Cadman Plaza and descended into the deep High Street stop.
Having just missed a C train. Isn't that always the case??!?!
An A wasn't far behind. Spent what seemed like forever traveling back into Manhattan and uptown to Columbus Circle. Glancing at my watch I noticed it was going to be very tight getting out of the station, to the gym and dressed in time for class. I started prepping while still on the train... earrings off and in the wallet, watches switched out, hair pulled back in a ponytail and glasses securely stored in their case. The train pulled into the stop and I was off. After a blur of a clothing change, I sweated out a challenging and hilly 50 min. spin class. Iris is sooo damn good that way. I then scored one of the sweet TMs and cranked out 3 miles in 23:59. I was worried that I was about to miss the closing of the pool at another gym location and so I hustled it a bit more to get my backpack and resurface to ground level so that I could make the call for a swim lane reservation in the morning.
How's that for an action packed first training day? Booking to get one workout done in order to assure I was able to get the next done in the morning. :-) Anywho, I'm not planning to burn myself out in record time so I'll try to schedule that whole routine a bit better next week.
As for the training I'm looking to use a couple of Brad Hudson's plans. His level two plan would be ideal except I'm not starting out with quite the base I'd have liked and I don't want to risk injury. And so I'll mix up elements of levels one and two and have a few tune-up races at varying distances to gauge where I am throughout the next 20 weeks.
5 comments:
"Today is when.
Today is always then. When."
Very deep! :-)
I'm super excited to watch your training this time around. St. George's sounds incredible!
I'll have to check out that Hudson link when I have a minute - I'm curious about it because I don't think I know anyone who has followed it for marathon. Has anyone from KR?
Cindi - I know Tom was reading Hudson's book and incorporating some of his training ideas into his running but aside from him, I don't know of anyone else on KR that's followed one of his plans all the way through yet. If that's the case, I'm happy to be the experiment ;)
it does consume you, this funny thing, called the journey to BQ.
you think about it during most runs, during mornings when the body resists allowing itself to be dragged out of bed to slog out a few, during quieter moments of stretching.
you imagine how it will feel the moment you cross the finish line knowing that you are headed to boston. you think of the triumph that you will feel as you raise your arms in victory.
and then, in the back of your head, you also wonder if you'll be able to do it. what if? then what??
"first the mind must believe, then the body will follow."
this is YOUR year, maria. YOUR year to BQ. and it starts today (or, technically yesterday). GO GET THAT BQ!!!!!!!
The way Christine describes it is right on to all the feelings of the BQ journey. Two little letters that mean so much to us marathoners but are jiberish to the average person.
"first the mind must believe, then the body will follow."
I love it!! Don't force it....it will come to you. I can't wait to follow along with your training and to line up in Hopkinton with you next year!!!
What a gorgeous marathon to get your BQ at... Looking forward to tagging along with you on this journey! I'll be there in a few years. :)
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