And So It Begins...

Today is Day 1 of the 18 week ordeal they call marathon training. Sometimes if I think too hard, I still can't believe I volunteered for this. It's going to be a long summer, but I'm looking forward to seeing what I can do!

I'll be using the Hal Higdon Novice program. As I'm a newbie to running, I'd never heard of Hal Higdon when I found his training programs, but apparently these were constructed specifically for training for the Chicago Marathon. Perfect! There's a Novice 1 and a Novice 2 schedule to choose from...I printed out both. The only difference is that N2 has a little more mileage per week than N1 and starts out with about the same number as I put in currently. But, I figured I'll use both of them as an average. I won't do fewer miles than listed in N1, and I'll try to do as many as listed in N2.

The schedule in general looks like this:

• Monday - Rest day (or in my case, probably a strength session)
• Tuesday - Short run
• Wednesday - Medium run
• Thursday - Short run
• Friday - Rest day (which I will observe with my customary Friday after work nap)
• Saturday - Long run
• Sunday - Cross training (which for me will be yoga class)

Two weeks ago, on Saturday for my long run, I was able to set my alarm for regular weekday wake up time and run 10+ miles before it got blistering hot. This week, I switched my long run to Sunday, did not wake up early, and ended up slogging through a measly 8 miles feeling like I was going to spontaneously combust. Waking up early (especially while it's hot) and getting the increasingly long runs done is going to be tricky for me. I get up early during the week, but no one would accuse me of being a morning person, or even well-rested for that matter. That will be a work in progress.

I'm also going to have to find a new yoga studio for a couple of months. True story: last Sunday when I rolled up to Bally's for yoga, the parking lot was strangely empty...completely empty, in fact. There was a pink sheet of paper on the front door. I laughed when I read it--Bally's was "condemned." I'm always complaining about how gross Bally's and its clientele are (I pretty much only go for this one really great yoga class), but it was funny to see that it was condemned. Turns out, there was a fire that set off the sprinkler system and flooded the building. According to an email from the Bally's corporate, they "don't have a time frame for when the repairs will be complete and the facility will reopen." But, they credited my membership dues until the end of August. So, until then, I'm gonna have to brave the uncharted territories of new yoga classes until I find one I like. I know yoga isn't technically cross training, but there are definitely elements of strength training involved and the stretching does wonders for my sad worn joints.

Anyway, blah blah blah. I'm on my way to becoming a marathoner--WooHoo!!!!