Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Mixing it up a bit

Okay, so if you are reading this blog, you know that I am a painter. What you may not know is I also enjoy running, triathlons, and various other activities, especially if they involve my family. If you really know me, you'll know that I have been trying unsuccessfully to qualify for the Boston Marathon. Likely my best shot was a few years ago, I was in prime shape, but Boston was not a big deal to me at that point and rather than go for it at Disney, I decided to run the half-marathon the day before and the marathon the next day to try and qualify... that did not work out. Since that time I have not had any success and about 22 months ago I suffered a catastrophic ankle injury breaking both bones and destroying my ankle compartment. Not good. However I am on the road to recovery and just a month ago, I tried yet again to hit my time for Boston... I did not succeed.

That brings us to today. I am determined to qualify for Boston, I have looked at why I was faster in the past, and what I am capable of doing today and working with a good friend, we have devised a plan.

The plan.

First, the race, initially I was making a decision about bay State Marathon, though it is in mid-October. Here is the deal, I realized I need to increase my overall fitness, rather than train for the half Ironman in Augusta, or jump right into my next marathon (Bay State), I decided I am going to focus towards Huntsville in early December. My official training will start August 24, between that time and now I am going to work on increasing my overall fitness level, that includes good base training runs, cycling and swimming for fitness and hitting the weights, as well as my core, lots of sit-ups. At the same time, I will be eliminating the junk from my diet, NO PROCESSED FOODS, (nothing from a box as I like to say) real food as I work to bring my weight down. My weight right now is 180 after working out, so I am floating around 183-185 during the day. It is my target to be around 175-176 when August 24th hits.

Today was a track day, my buddies were hitting it the 800’s, I love track day, it is my favorite workout. Track workouts are like explosions, fast and violent. I though am aiming at a different goal, fitness, so my workout was 6x(1 minute fast, 3 minutes ez) with a 90 second rest. I was right on the money and kept the pace solid. If anything I went too fast, but I would like to increase my speed, a bit over these next few weeks. On my last set, I decide to hit a full ¼ mile, which I timed at 1:16, I have not hit that time in a long while, so I was happy. Later today I’ll be hitting the gym for my weight training.

Keep checking in over the next few months and if you are reading this, wish me luck.

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