2 miles!!

Okay, not every day . . . but, I did today!! This morning, Bella and I headed to the canal. I was feeling particularly motivated. I took the Ipod today, just for a change in routine.

Because I am reaching the transition point with the training (the preliminary training ending and the official marathon training beginning) I've been feeling anxious about the fact that, for most people, 30 minutes translates into a lot more miles of running than it does for me. What if the transition from the preliminary (with the goal having been to run for 30 minutes consecutively) to the official marathon training (in the first week I run 3 miles, 4 miles, 3 miles, 5 miles on each of 4 training days respectively) is too big of a jump for me (the slow runner)?

So today, I decided to test how far I was actually running.

I always begin every workout with 5 minutes of walking. For most people this would probably be done with the stated purpose being to warm up the body. For me, it is mostly about warming up my mind . . . to the idea of running. Sometimes, those 5 minutes of walking are the only thing that get me out the door in the morning. If I knew I had to step outside and start running immediately, I think I'd have a harder time getting myself out there. Also, most mornings, the 5 minutes is just enough to get us out of the neighborhood and onto our main path.

I'd never really paid attention to how much distance that 5 minutes accounted for in my overall mileage. Today: .25 miles.

In all of my RunningAHEAD data, I've never known for sure, the distance that was solely running because I've always had some walking intervals. Even this last week, I turned the Garmin on for the 5 minute warm-up and left it on for the 5 minute walking interval at the end. I've done this because I really want an accurate total of the total distance I've moved my body, even if it is for warm-up or cool-down purposes. (On this note though, I am going to play with the Garmin because I think there is a way I could treat those warm-up times as "laps" and give me the pace/distance I need.)

Remember, my "official" goal for today was 25 minutes of running/5 minutes walking.

Today, I ran more than 25 minutes . . . I ran 2 miles . . . which, for me, took about 34 minutes. I know that I've gone on and on about needing to stay on program, but I just NEEDED TO KNOW. I needed to know about how far I'd been running. It was fine. It was actually great!! As I was rounding the last quarter mile, I got the chills thinking about how much energy I still had and that I was about to finish the 2 miles!

I've also decided to experiment because after the next two weeks, I need to figure out what to do with the 4 (extra) weeks before the official marathon training schedule begins (Sept 28-Oct 4). I want to make sure that I don't increase too much and get injured, but I want to make sure that come that first week of Marathon Training, I am confident and prepared.

Here's a link to a forum discussion I found on what to do with your training once you reach the 30 minute mark. It's not necessarily written in consideration of a marathon, but, nonetheless, interesting.

I'm thinking about maybe:

• Sundays being a long run day (as they will be in the official training) and maybe shooting for longer time on those days with no consideration of mileage.
• Tuesday and Friday being 2 mile run days
• Wednesday being a 30 minute run day but with some speed intervals mixed in.

Just some thoughts. I've still got two more weeks to figure it out for sure.

Bella seemed extra proud when we finished this morning too! I think she was more worried about how many cows and horses she could see rather than how many miles she ran, but either way, she ran two miles.