Race day approaches. I was planning on swimming today and doing some circuit training, just to get some strength and aerobic conditioning in place of running. But for some reason, I've got a crick in my neck/shoulder that popped up day before yesterday and is still resolving. I didn't want to antagonize it and risk having it impede me on Sunday, so I skipped the swim and weights. Instead, I got on the treadmill and did a light 5 mile run of varying intensity, but all at less than 150 bpm. It was fun, and felt good. I still want to get one more light run in before Sunday, so I hope I'm not overdoing it during a "taper" week.
I've settled on building my marathon training plan based on the guidance of Bob Glover's book. I'm going to keep the walk/run philosophy of Jeff Galloway in mind during my training, but my goal is to finish a marathon by completely running (walking briefly only at aid stations). I'm going to resist putting a time goal on my first marathon and focus only only finishing. What I want to do, though, is finish running and not walking. Even though I'm not a competitive racer, I'm going to train as if I am. I don't want to train just to finish, regardless of the time. I want to train as if I'm after a sub-4 hour goal. I just won't have that as a specific race-day goal.
I'm looking forward to the process of increasing my weekly mileage and adding ever longer long runs. I've already started mapping some routes out.
Oh, on a side note, I'm amazed that I've gained weight. With all the exercise I'm performing, I'd think I'd need to eat 3000 calories a day to gain weight. I know I tend to under count my calories, but not that much. Yet I have gained about 2 pounds. Maybe it's muscle? Doubt it. Starting Monday, I'm going to spend a few weeks trimming down, which means a tighter rein on the menu.
