Getting Back Into Rhythm

After a wonderful school year and countless hours spent thinking about a wonderful wedding, it was time for me to get back into "real" training.  I needed to decide on a marathon that I will do this fall, and come up with a training plan for that race.  And since the window to qualify for the Olympic Trials is slowly closing, I've decided on the Chicago Marathon in October.  I believe there will be a ton of guys looking to run the standard, and that race gives me roughly 4 months of training from after the wedding.

As soon as school got out, I finally got the motivation and energy to build up the miles again.  If I can recall, I was only running about 40 miles per week since the beginning of the year, and hadn't wrote a single mile in my running journal since my stress fractures in March of 2014.  So, I need to get back into a routine and get my act together!  I finally logged some miles in my journal at the end of April to keep myself accountable, and to my surprise, my mileage only stuck around 40/week.  But with school over, things are looking brighter.

I need to keep posting on this blog as well, so this will be the first of many weeks leading up to Chicago, and an OTQ time.  Also, after racing the Rock 'n Roll San Diego half marathon last Sunday, I now have a pretty accurate account of my fitness and where I should be training... (slow), but it's a start.  And in case you're wondering, I ran 1:10:54.  One of my slowest half marathons ever!  It sure is a kick in the ass, and now I have zero excuses to get back out there and train my brains out!

Racing outta shape, and too cheap to buy the photos...

With the Fiance at the finish!

Week 1 of marathon training:

Mon - drove back to ABQ
Tue - pm. 10 miles
Wed - am. 7 miles / pm. 9 miles
Thur - am. 4 miles / pm. 11 miles (bonked in the heat)
Fri - am. 6x1 mile w/3min rest (5:36, 5:30, 5:34, 5:25, 5:26, 5:23) 10 total
Sat - am. 12 miles in the foothills
Sun - am. 18 miles

Total: 81 miles