Training Update

The Colorado Marathon filled up 2 months faster than it did last year and I just barely registered in time. Whew, trust me folks, it was a close one. I have currently finished my second week of training for the race. I have been pretty motivated despite the bad weather and long hours at work. My two long runs so far have both been run in several inches of snow and freezing cold weather. I felt hard core and it motivated me to continue. I am so focused and there will be no excuses this time.

I really like the training schedule I chose. It starts with 3 runs during the week that are pretty short at first 3-4 miles (you get Monday and Friday off every week) and increasing distance on the weekend, either Saturday or Sunday. On the weekend day you do not run the long run, you are responsible for 1 hour of cross training (swimming, biking, walking, or some other form of cardio). During the week, your Wednesday run increases in difficulty as the weeks progress. That is your hard day during the week increasing to 10 miles in week 15 (this is the week that I will run 20 for my long weekend run).

I have put the negative experience of my first marathon behind me and am training for The Colorado Marathon with a new frame of mind. My goal for my last marathon was to finish the race. While this is an excellent goal, I also think that it decreased my accountability in training runs so I "just finished" the run and didn't focus on time. For this race, I want to be more competitive with myself and aim for a sub 4 hour finish. Just thinking about it makes me so excited. I think if I continue to train hard and stay focused I can achieve this goal.

I'm psyched. Bring it on.