I Think I Can...

I finally feel like things are getting back to normal. I have a job interview this week that I feel really good about. It's made dealing with everything at work a little easier when I think that I could be out of there by the end of this month. The reduction in stress brought back the return of my running mojo just in time to focus on the Baltimore Running Festival marathon as my goal race for the fall.

I did the 5k back in 2009 when I was running for Team Under Armour. It was a great experience and I'm looking forward to going back. I have the added benefit of running for a new team this year. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to announce which company just yet so look for that in a future post!

I also get to look forward to running with a friend. One of my fellow runners from RnR DC is running Baltimore as his second full marathon. We have very similar paces and marathon time so we've set our sights on going 26.2 in 4:30 at Baltimore. It should be a HUGE motivator to have another person depending on me to train right and run a smart race.

Knowing that I have 19 weeks to get ready I printed out an 18 week training plan and started today to give myself an extra 7 days should I need to rest or repeat a week for any reason. Today was just cross training but it felt good to have a reason to get my butt to the gym. My favorite trainer, Ryan, put me through a tough upper body and core workout. Then I got to run around with my soccer kids for an hour at our last practice of the season. Even though I'm excited to get my weeknights back I am sad to be done. I had a great group of kids this season and Gemma isn't sure she wants to do soccer in the fall so this may have been my last go-round as coach.

I'm feeling strong though. A tough 5 mile race on Saturday, an easy 4 miler on Sunday, and lots of cross training today and I still feel ready to start the running portion of my marathon training tomorrow. I want to do this training cycle right and really find out what I'm made of. I set a huge PR in Savannah and I want to feel that rush of accomplishment again. This time I plan to train a little harder AND smarter.

It's time to break out the pace calculator and nail down my goal paces for each training run. Every run should be about adding value to my training, not just miles. Quality over quantity and making sure I'm in the right shape to run a 4:30 marathon. It's not going to be easy but nothing that's worth it ever is, right?

So now comes the hardest part for someone like me, rest. Instead of curling up on the couch and enjoying the quiet of a sleeping house, I will head to bed and let my body recover. After that comes trying to whip my diet back into shape which means no more skipping breakfast in favor of coffee! It also probably means I'm going to have to plan ahead on packing my lunch instead of throwing in the first things I touch every morning. I can do this!