First Week in the Bag

The first week's assessment is rather positive. Those early summer days of speed work have paid off dramatically. I made it to all of my sessions and the end of the week was just as brilliant as the beginning. The long Run of 10 miles went well. Besides the running part, It's amazing how much weight I lose the first week of training cycle. I am also looking into other factors that sum up a whole of a runner (Healthier and Leaner)
Sleep, Diet, Lower Stress, etc..
I just found out that the North South Marathon in Gettysburg will be hosting a Half Marathon in October that would work out good for a long run hill session in preparation for the Marathon in November. Though I will be Racing the Harrisburg half in Sept. Still thinking about this one.

Fall Marathon Campaign Under Way

This week is the first week of my build up for the Harrisburg Marathon in November. I am pretty excited this time around, more so than the first one. This week has been pretty good thus far, well, it is only Tuesday. An easy 3 miles yesterday, a tempo run of 5 today, 3 easy tomorrow, 5 @ MP on Friday, and 10 mile long run on Saturday.

I am more excited to run it this year than lasts year's first time go around. Why?
I know what I was lacking in my training. A lot......lol.
Never think you can get away with not doing the Long Runs, no matter how Long it takes.
There are numerous things that I can improve on, but that is what makes the second go round that much better, or the third, or fourth, etc..
Striving to beat last years time is one of my main goals, and knowing how to train for a marathon is vital. In my opinion, I don't think you really KNOW how to train for one, unless you have already trained for one and have done a marathon.

It is the improvement that makes me strive to do better.
What's next year? Sub 4?
And the year after Sub 3:50?

That is what makes running awesome, is competing with myself.
Speed is relative.
As long as I am improving, I know I am putting forth great effort than last time.
Now, how to get rid of 30 pounds holding me back? lol

Fabulous Long Run

York Heritage Rail Trail
Howard Tunnel

Today I went out on my long run of 10 miles. Last week's 8 miler averaged 11.15 miling and today's 10 miler averaged 10.59 miling with a negative split. The last two miles today were fabulous. I started out around 630am and the parking lot was empty when I arrived at one of the trail heads for the York Rail Trail. Since my training has not officially started yet (July 11th) I just wanted to have a nice run and really soak in the surroundings. Five miles out, and five back. What is great about this trail, is that every mile is marked, so keeping track of splits is easy to do. On my way back, I start to see some traffic at about mile 7 of my run. Lots of runners and looks like group runs as well. So, I happened on this one group of 4, which were very friendly and polite. The pace was a tad bit faster than what I was going, so I thought this would be a chance to speed up a bit. After about 7 minutes, they said "Now it's time for 2 minutes of walking". What a bummer. They were doing the Galloway Run/Walk strategy. So I said my Good Day and went on ahead and never looked back. There were so many runners out on the trail. If they were wearing race bibs, it would have been a decent race event. The last mile was indeed something else. I felt I had a lot of energy in reserves to tap into, so that is exactly what I did. Today's run was one of my favorites. My pace is not were I really wanted it by far, but I am building my endurance up, and compared to last year, (There's nothing like keeping a log book on paper or online to really give you some motivation when you look back at your old times) I have progressed. So, yes, today's run was a favorite. From today's experience, I am thinking about getting with a running club, though, I have been saying this for 2 years now. But there is that inner feeling and calmness I have when I am out there going it alone. Seeing all the other runners out there really motivates me though. It makes me look forward to next week's run which will be shorter due to cutting back some in preparation for my Fall Marathon Campaign the following week.