Monday, June 29, 2009

One Down, Only 15 More to Go!

My mother likes to remind me that "the road to hell is paved with good intention". I really wanted to give an update last week of my first week's progress, yet life got in the way. So better late then never.
Last week was my first week following the Runner's World Marathon training plan. I have chosen the 5 hours marathon plan, but have tweaked it, because the running times are a little too slow (yet the 4 1/2 hour marathon plan is ironically too fast). I look at the plan for the week-2 miles, 2 miles, 3 miles and 6 miles. That's only 13 miles-I'm used to pushing through 24 miles minimum each week. Which, BTW, don't ask me where this magic "24 miles" has come from. I considered myself a woman of science, and try to make evidence based statements. But this "I have to run at least 24 miles each week" has no basis other than being pulled from the location on my body where the sun doesn't shine. So I decide to let go of this and follow the plan.
The first day I run the 3 miles. And despite having changed the pace times on my Garmin (its a magical watch that tell you anything and everything you would ever want to know about running), the thing is still beeping at me. And not in the usual beep of "Speed Up" (aka "Move your buttock faster woman")-this is actually beeping for me to "Slow Down". Continued tweeking is in my future to reduce the annoyance factor of a beeping watch.
The next day, I run 2 miles, walk another 1. See, I'm only running 2 miles like I'm suppose to (this is called justification). I'm extra ok with this, because my sister and I head off to NYC to partake in a workout with my favorite aerobics instructor of all time, Cathe Friedrich. This woman is the smallest person I've ever seen-and I'm not talking height-although she's small in that aspect too. I swear, her waist is the size of my 6 year old. Although I love having my picture taken with her, it makes me feel giant-like a giant who is going to eat her. But its nice to have a afternoon workout, since running only 2 miles left me wanting more.
Friday I run 2 miles, doing hill repeats the entire time. I have no choice, as my mother's neighborhood is composed entirely of hills. It was extremely muggy, so running only 2 miles was fine. I walked another 2 just for good measure.
Sunday, I'm home, back to the land where the roads aren't as hilly, so I complete my 6 mile run here. Nothing thrilling to report about this one. Oh, other than it started pouring during my run, so I ran home, got a kitchen towel, and a plastic bag for my watch-and just kept at it.
One week down, 15 to go. Next stop, meeting with the running coach.

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