Baby Steps and Giant Strides

The pre-training running has been interrupted and lessened due to the death of my grandmother.  Next week though – real marathon training begins!

“Prepare to Succeed” isn’t my own saying, it’s a marketing slogan currently in use by the marketing department I work in. I think they should give me a t-shirt to wear during the race that says this.  Free advertising and positive thinking, all in one!

Things that (probably) work:

• Running on a day that I don’t work
• Days Off
• Drinking enough water (to stay hydrated)
• Drinking enough milk (to avoid shin splits)
• Eating enough (to keep energy)
• Running with the ol’ iPod
• Ice packs

Things that (probably) don’t work:

• Working 4 jobs a day and trying to train
• Not getting enough sleep
• Not eating enough
• Drinking coffee or soda

I’m figuring out more what works and doesn’t work with my training.  I don’t want this blog to simply be me being all positive about running.  My experience is not always going to be positive, so the blog is track my learning, the good and the frustrating. It’s hard getting used to running every day, especially on days I work. I think transitioning between jobs every two hours throughout the day mentally exhausts me by the time I need to run, and therefore can’t clear my mind as well (without the iPod?).

Talking to a co-trainer today, she said that the frustrating/hard weeks and feel-good weeks go in cycles.  That’s good to know, knowing that it won’t always be frustrating.

After a frustrating week last week and a day off on Saturday, today’s run went so smoothly.  I ran further without stopping and have set better goals during my actual run. I’m working on the mental side of running as well.

I’m happy and appreciative of the positive, encouraging comments I’ve received so far on here, because it seems like when I tell people in person that I’m running a marathon, they tell me I’m crazy.

Also, a question for all who have trained for a marathon and/or run:

How did you mentally begin your training? Hoping that it would get better? Knowing from the get-go that you could finish a marathon or was it a piece of knowledge that you built on? (thanks for sharing!)

Day 3 – 70 degrees

The best advice I’ve found so far is talking to be people who are either currently training (because that means I’m not alone) or will be candid about their training experiences. The runs haven’t been too tough, but I’ve been sore on top of getting used to a new work schedule and not getting enough sleep this week, so my enthusiasm has been of varying levels this week.

But each day that I accomplish a run, I know I’m closer to the marathon (CHEESY!) and that makes me proud.

The course is the dark black line. Click to see the full thing.

I read today that the Grandma’s Marathon and the Twin Cities Marathon no longer let runners use headphones if they want their times to show up or to qualify for anything. It is deemed a hazard to health.  However… that is how I had planned to run, at least for part of it.

So I guess I’ll push myself to be a better mental runner. I have 20 1/2 weeks to accomplish this.

It is currently 60 degrees outside and the sun is finally starting to come out. I don’t know if I could ask for a better day to start marathon training. Yesterday the temperature reached 70 degrees by the time I got into work and 90 degrees in the afternoon. I wasn’t sure if I could maintain my resolve to start the training.

A little background information, I guess. I unofficially ran the last six miles of the Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, Minn. last year as a motivator for two friends. Running and seeing my friends accomplish something so big inspired me to run my own marathon. Luckily for me, I’m dating a guy who had made running a marathon one of his life goals so… running partner! We signed up last week for the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon, which is October 7, 2007. This blog will (hopefully) follow the journey of my first real marathon experience.