Marathon Training Take 1

I started training for the Lincoln Full Marathon on Monday, December 29, Following Hal Higdon's Intermediate I Training.
http://www.halhigdon.com/training/51139/Marathon-Intermediate-1-Training-Program

Under the recommendation of my friend Jill (who has run her fair share of Half and Full Marathons), I ordered myself the Garmin 10 in pink and I LOVE IT!! It uses a GPS to track my running, pace, miles. LOVE! I found out that I am a lot slower than I was 5 years ago when I ran my half in Lincoln. I ran my half marathon in 1 hr and 40 minutes for an average of 7:38. I am running now about 8:15-8:20 minute miles. With that said, I come to a complete stop a lot to take off my hoodie, redo my head wrap, fix my scarf, etc, as I run in this crazy wind, cold stuff they call Nebraska winter. But still, I AM MUCH SLOWER. That does not thrill me much considering I was hoping to qualify for the Boston Marathon. My goal now is to finish the full marathon in under 4 hours, 3 hr 40 minutes would be great, but I just don't know that I can make that happen.

In December, I was diagnosed with Irritable Bowel Syndrome. I was put on a medication for it and it helped wonderfully. HOWEVER, it caused muscle weakness/rigidity, lethargy and I was tired all the time. Let's just say, I was a total mess. Today I got them to change the medication. HOWEVER, this medication is less effective at treating my IBS. Great. All of this is not helping with my strength and energy while running. Sometimes it seems like my legs are moving faster than my mind, so I stop to get them back together. My legs are so stiff. I am not sure if it was from the medication or the cold or a combination. I have never had that happen before. I felt like I was a running board. I lost a few pounds on it, too, which did not help with the lack of strength I was feeling, either. I have been off the medication 2 days and am to start the new one tonight. THANK GOODNESS because my IBS is back FULL FORCE. Seriously, I am a total mess. I am hoping the medication works so I do not have to have a colonoscopy (I was supposed to have one earlier this month but I cancelled it because 1. They scare the hell out of me and 2. I felt better on the medication.). And, I need to get running like my normal crazy self! So anyway...

I found this blog...
http://www.mile-posts.com/
It is a wonderful blog for any runner, but especially marathon runner types. She gives great advise about what to eat from Picky bars to Cliff Bloks during the run, to what water bottle to carry, to if you should or should not carry a water bottle. I have a whole shopping list full of things to buy. I have started using the Cliff Bloks (strawberry flavored which were a whopping $1.97 each at Target!). They taste pretty good but I have to take with water as they made me really thirsy (so thirsty in fact that I started to question if the near by snow was okay to eat!). Obviously, I have not bought my water bottle yet! You can check out my Pins on my Pinterest board titled 26.2 or my running style on pinterest.

So far, my training has been a little rough obviously. I have stuck with it for the most part. I usually run 6 days in a row, though, taking Sunday off. I do that because I have more time to run on Fridays because the kids are in school. So why would I take that day off? And, I usually work Sunday nights. I don't really want to run for over an hour and then stay up all night. COME ON. That is just insane. ;) With that said, my body is probably more tired for those long runs because I did not take that break. One of these weeks, I will try to follow the plan correctly. It is just SO HARD.

Also, I found this great place to get updated music on mile posts called runhundred.com. It has great workout music emailed to you that have great beats per minute to work out too. It has songs that I have not heard of or would not have thought to run to.

The marathon is May 4 in Lincoln. I have my hotel already booked (booked it the first of December just in case!). Now, I just got to get my mind and body ready to go! Anyone care to join me?

"Marathon Training Schedule: Intermediate 1

Week	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
1	Cross	3 m run	5 m run	3 m run	Rest	5 m pace	8
2	Cross	3 m run	5 m run	3 m run	Rest	5 m run	9
3	Cross	3 m run	5 m run	3 m run	Rest	5 m pace	6
4	Cross	3 m run	6 m run	3 m run	Rest	6 m pace	11
5	Cross	3 m run	6 m run	3 m run	Rest	6 m run	12
6	Cross	3 m run	5 m run	3 m run	Rest	6 m pace	9
7	Cross	4 m run	7 m run	4 m run	Rest	7 m pace	14
8	Cross	4 m run	7 m run	4 m run	Rest	7 m run	15
9	Cross	4 m run	5 m run	4 m run	Rest	Rest	Half Marathon
10	Cross	4 m run	8 m run	4 m run	Rest	8 m pace	17
11	Cross	5 m run	8 m run	5 m run	Rest	8 m run	18
12	Cross	5 m run	5 m run	5 m run	Rest	8 m pace	13
13	Cross	5 m run	8 m run	5 m run	Rest	5 m pace	20
14	Cross	5 m run	5 m run	5 m run	Rest	8 m run	12
15	Cross	5 m run	8 m run	5 m run	Rest	5 m pace	20
16	Cross	5 m run	6 m run	5 m run	Rest	4 m pace	12
17	Cross	4 m run	5 m run	4 m run	Rest	3 m run	8
18	Cross	3 m run	4 m run	Rest	Rest	2 m run	Marathon"