And so it begins....

As if I needed further reminder of what a horrible blogger I have become....I realized that my last post was my 100th post AND I celebrated my 1 year blogiversary on June 30th. Yay me!  But truly, I suck.  It's not that this isn't important to me, but the whole new job and being pulled in a hundred different directions has gotten the best of me.  That said, there's no way I can keep a daily log of my training runs like I did for my first marathon cycle (and really...who wants to read about every.single.run?) but I hope to at least check in weekly with what's going on.

So week 1 went off without a hitch!  I did my first run of the cycle during my lunch break at work.  It was humid and overcast, but I only had to do 3 miles, so I managed.  I packed my running bag with extra deoderant, baby powder, facial cleansing cloths, baby wipes, a towel and some make up and was good to go!  Worked out fairly well, although I'd prefer to shower right after a hot run!  The next day I shipped the kids off to a summer "preschool" class and enjoyed sleeping in and heading out for my run around 9:30 am.  Although it was a cooler day than most we'd been having, the dingo was not so happy.  He attempted to lay down in a grassy, shaded spot.  He's never done that before.  I woke up Thursday to temperatures in the 50's and had another good run.  Saturday I headed over to do my "long run" with the running group.  My schedule called for 6 miles, but I was feeling good and enjoying the conversation, so I ended up doing 10 miles with the group.  Put me over the 10% rule for the week, but I felt good.

I was really nervous heading into this training cycle.  With a recent injury (which didn't bother me at all this week) and the knowledge of just what was ahead, I was scared.  It was good to start my training off on a positive note.  I am also really glad I started going to the running group.  It's nice to be around people who embrace their pace.  Although I run for the "fun of it" it's hard not to compare myself to others and feel badly about being slow.  Maybe in my next life I'll focus on speed, but the thought of heading to the track to do speedwork makes me want to vomit.  If this is what I choose to do for "fun", why would I want to vomit?  Seems almost like an eating disorder or something?!  Or perhaps that's just how I justify my laziness...

Besides just surviving training and running injury-free, my other goal of this training cycle is to not gain weight!  I will not allow the marathon-training-I-can-eat-anything-I-want-mentality to take over.  I'm staying accountable at WW and keeping at least one weight training workout a week.  The day before my long run calls for a "rest" day.  I think I'm going to stick to doing yoga that day, which will leave me with one full rest day/week (on Sunday).  I'm hoping this combination of aerobic conditioning/weight training/core work will help me to maintain my weight and keep me injury-free. 

Week 2 calls for the same running schedule, with an increase of the long run (although not sure what I'll do, as I ran more than that last week?).  I'm also way over due for new shoes.  I'm still in search of the perfect shoes.... Hopefully I'll find them!! 

~Embrace your Pace and Run Happy until next week~