Marathon Training, Best Hint #9

Tip #9 - Train early There is no match for early morning workouts. When I am doing really well, I can get a couple of training hours in before getting to the office. This This morning was a classic of my motivation in the last few weeks. I got up, saw the gray clouds, saw the freezing rain and just didn't want to get going. If this Ironman thing is going to happen I am going to need to really start doing some training in the mornings. I can't wait for the weather to get warmer and it to be ligtht out early, there are just no excuses left when it's 70 degrees out.

It is less than two months until I embark on my second ever 26.2 mile running journey. I hope and pray that this time goes much better than the first time. I am an official marathon finisher, completing the Olathe Marathon in 2004. However that was to date the most painful experience of my life. I was undertrained, having only logged one disasterous 18 mile training run. I felt great throught the first 15 or so miles, but being an overachiever, I hit the wall shortly after mile 16. by mile twenty, I walked the whole mile. I did rally a bit around 24-26 but my legs felt like someone had set them on fire. It was a hot day, getting up to about 85 degrees, and I really suffered out there. So the number I have to beat to marathon PR is 5:16. Hopefully I can pull that off.

Training is going fine so far. I have logged a few 20 mile weeks, and a long run of 10 miles. This week is going to be my first week of 25+ miles in a week. I have been enjoying the running end of things, my plan is to work a lot on the run through April, then hit the swim hard this spring. I'm going to save the big dog bike miles for the late spring and summer. My weight this morning was 219, which means I still have about 40 to lose before ironday. Here's to treadmill running!

-Fat Ironman