Marathon Training Begins

Today is day one of marathon training!  I have exactly 18 weeks to train for my very first full marathon that I will be running on October 6, 2013.  I will be following Hal Higdon’s Intermediate 2 training program, which is 18 weeks long so I don’t have room to slack. 

After I ran the half marathon on Memorial Day weekend, I decided to take a full week off from running.  A week off from running unfortunately turned into a week off of exercising in general.  Besides not exercising, I've been eating like a little fatty too.  This combination of a sedentary lifestyle and no diet plan, has led me to basically fail at all of the goals I came up with last week.  Here’s a reminder of what those were.

Track everything I eat: I ate basically anything that was placed in front of me, so tracking was tedious and I was in denial about what I was eating.  I started tracking, but by the afternoon, I would be over it and would quit.

Go to the gym 5 times:  I made it once…just once….

Complete week 1 of LiveFit: I only went to the gym once…I’m sure you can figure out whether or not I accomplished this one…

Like I said, now that marathon training is here, I need to set goals and actually follow through with them.  If I don’t, I’m not going to do too well with this whole running a marathon thing.  So here are my goals for this week, which I will rock!

Complete every scheduled workout I have this week.

M – Cross Train & Day 1 of LiveFit

T – 3M Run & Day 2 of LiveFit

W – 5M Run & Day 3 of LiveFit

TR – 3M Run & Day 4 of LiveFit (This is roundout week 1 of the program)

F – Rest

S – 5M Pace Run 9:00/Mile

S – 10M Run

No alcohol.

I’m a beer lover, but the beer doesn't necessarily love me back.  Limiting my alcohol intake will only help my training.  There is no way in hell I could cut out alcohol for the next 18 weeks, but taking a break here and there will have its advantages.

Get Nick to go on a walk or bike ride with me every day this week.

I love my pookie to pieces, but he has been packing on the pounds lately.  I am not the only one to notice.  He has also been complaining about how his clothes are getting tighter, he’s always tired, and how he just feels fat.  Hopefully if I get him into a routine, he can pick it up himself, and work on getting healthier. 

Besides working harder to accomplish my goals, I will also be restarting Weigh-In Wednesday.  I took a break from weighing myself because the scale was just bringing me down.  I’m nervous for my weigh-in this week because I know I’m up.  I did a lot of damage this week in the diet area, so it’s not going to be a pretty number.