Back in the Saddle Again...

Well, well, winter is still in full swing and an end doesn't seem likely any time soon. Despite the non-stop pounding Mother Nature keeps doling out, I promise there is a light at the end of the tunnel. For that reason, I'm choosing to place my focus 70ish days into the future at the 6th annual Illinois Marathon. After all, one has to imagine that we'll at least be able to see temps consistently above 0 in ten and a half weeks, right?

After participating in the 10k last April, I've chosen to participate in the Half Challenge this year. For those that aren't aware, that's Friday night's 5k followed by the Half Marathon the next morning. I still haven't decided if I'm going to try and shoot for a certain pace in the 5k or just use it as a nice little tune up. Regardless, at 10.5 weeks out, I'm officially into the training schedule.

Following last fall's Purdue Half in which I chose a 16 week training routine, I decided to settle on a 12 week program for this race (well, it's actually a 13 week plan since I ended up skipping a week on the calendar). It was a bold choice considering I spent most of November hobbled by my knees after extending my shoes well past their prime, followed by strict orders from my Doctor to do absolutely no running during December and the early part of January as I recovered from my Paniculectomy, and then finally missing the mid portion of January welcoming my little boy into the world (zero complaints there, Jack Jack is amazing and has changed my life in more ways than I could ever imagine).

That's all behind me though, after 6 weeks of absolutely no running we're back in the saddle and two weeks into the training program. Getting back into the groove hasn't been easy as having a newborn definitely makes things a little more challenging. I've run mid-day, late night, early in the morning, about the only thing I really haven't done is ran on a full tank of gas. This doesn't keep me from setting goals however.

Last fall my only goal was to finish, and if I did so in under 2.5 hours well, that was just gravy on the cake.  After crossing the finish line in 2:24:36, I'm much more ambitious this go around. The goal is to shave 5-10 minutes off of Purdue and set the PR somewhere between 2:15:00 and 2:20:00.

My other goal is to hopefully drop 25 pounds or more in the next 10 weeks. It seems like such an easy thing to accomplish when you consider how much running you do each week, but training for a half turns me into a ravenous cow. I actually gained two pounds throughout my 16 week program for Purdue. The good news is if I can find a way to keep my eating in check and not use my training as a get out of jail free card, those 25 pounds should melt off.

Hope everyone else is finding a way to stay sane running on the treadmills. For those of you braving the chill and sub-zero temps...you're crazy.

This weeks training motivation: