What A Difference...

...a week makes! I am feeling back in the groove with work, running and life in general. The winter storm loosened its grip on Kentucky this week, allowing for sunshine, temps in the 40's and 50's and melting snow and ice. It has been wonderful being able to get in morning runs and evening walks with Emma.

My first week of marathon training went pretty well! Since I didn't run hardly at all last week, I cut back my mileage a little bit this week. Here is my "run"-down for the week (ha):

Mon 1/11/10

• Scheduled rest day

Tues 1/12/10

• 30 minutes of intervals on the trainer
• Then 15-10-5 (CF style, Megan!) of squats, sit-ups and push-ups

Wed 1/13/10

• Distance: 3.83 miles
• Time: 33:35
  
• AP: 8:46/mile
  

Thurs 1/14/10

• Distance: 2.57
  
• Time: 22:53
  
• AP: 8:54/mile
  

Fri 1/15/10

• Distance: 3.31
• Time: 29:28
• AP: 8:54.mile

Sat 1/16/10

• Distance: 6.13*
• Time: 59:01
• AP: *2.03 warm-up run with Sarah and Angela in Wilmore @ 10:30 pace, followed by 4.10 miles at 9:08 pace

Sun 1/17/10

• 4 miles scheduled

This morning's long run in Wilmore was great. My mileage for the week seems so low (will be 19.83 after tomorrow 4 miler), but I keep telling myself that this is the first week of 15 weeks of training. My total mileage will stay in the 20's for the next 3 weeks, then will jump into the 30's, then will peak in the 40's in March. In April I will begin my taper, and my mileage will trickle back down through the 30's and 20's.

I'm actually really excited about my training plan, and I feel like it will serve me well for the marathon and the summer triathlon season. The plan incorporates 5 days of running with 1-2 days of swimming and 3 days of riding. I'm going to try to incorporate three (modified) CrossFit style workouts in there, too.

I can't wait until March/April when I can pull the bike off the trainer and hit the roads again! But I actually really like the trainer! When I was home for Christmas, my sister gave me a CD by Girl Talk, a musician/DJ who specializes in mash-ups. His stuff is GREAT to run to, and I love listening to it while I am on the trainer. It makes me feel like I am in my own personal spinning class. Warning though, parental advisory is advised! I couldn't find his stuff on iTunes, but my sister gets his stuff through Napster. I highly recommend it for running.

One of my favorite things about a new year is getting organized for the year ahead. For me, this includes breaking in a new calendar/planner and establishing a system for recording my training for the year. Chad and I love Moleskine notebooks and calendars, and I've been using a Moleskine journal as my training journal since November. I planned to continue using it through 2010, but then I got the Runner's World 2010 Training Log in the mail and now I am torn between the two. I've decided to compromise and use the RW Training Log for recording my workouts, while continuing to use the Moleskine as a food journal.

I want to give a big shout-out and congratulations to my friend Kelly, who finished the Walt Disney World Marathon this past Sunday in 4:19! I am having coffee with her this afternoon to hear all about the experience. She was hoping to finish between 4:30 and 5:00 hours, so I am so glad that she blew her goal out of the water, coming in 20 minutes before her predicted time. And, she did it on a bum ankle! She actually fell down a flight of stairs (ha! what are the odds?) the week before the marathon! But she said her ankle never bothered her enough during the race to make her slow down or stop. Great job, Kelly! You are a marathoner!