The Training Countdown Begins!!!

So, this isn't a Sunday MORNING post, but it is another SUNDAY post.

As of yesterday, I am officially 20 weeks out from my race day. Which means that tomorrow, I begin my 20 week training program. I'm going to be logging a LOT of miles over the next 20 weeks. The plan I will be following comes from a book called "Marathoning for Mortals," by John Bingham and Jenny Hadfield. It is a book that a co-worker of mine loaned to me a few months ago, and I copied the program. It basically has me running 4 days a week, doing some kind of cross training 2 days a week, and then resting one day a week.

It promises to be quite an adventure!!!

A Milestone and a Discovery

Well, it's been too long darnit!! I gotta be more consistent. And I think these Sunday morning posts may become the norm from here on out. It's the morning that I seem to have the most time, with fewer interuptions. Definitely the most leisurely time of my week. It started this morning a little before 6 AM. And it's almost 10 now. My oldest sons got home just before 7 after spending the night out on the Tustumena 200 Sled Dog Race Trail at a checkpoint helping the mushers with their dogs. It is a service project that their troop does every year, and despite the cold weather, they always enjoy it. I sent them to bed promptly upon their arrival home so that they'll get SOME sleep before church. The four littlest kids began awakening around 8:30. We made biscuits for breakfast. Now, on to the important stuff.

I'd have to say that my training so far since the first of the year has been consistently inconsistent. I've been doing my cross training using EA Sports Active for Wii very consistently. Today is day 25 of my 30 day challenge. I anticipate no problems completing that this week. My actually running however, has been woeful at best. I'm sporadic on my 2 timed runs a week, and have only completed 2 of my 4 weekend distance runs as I'm supposed to, although I plan to do the one that I was supposed to do yesterday tomorrow. I skipped yesterday because I had 3 basketball games to referee. The schedule calls for a 6 mile run. Very doable. I will do it tomorrow, most likely in the evening after I get home from my board meeting.

I think I know one of the other reasons my running has been so inconsistent -- I haven't had my favorite tool for holding myself accountable, which is my Garmin Forerunner 305. As I mentioned previously, it went through a cycle in the washing machine and got ruined. I was able to get a replacement for about half of what I paid after sending in the broken one. It has been sent, and the replacement is due to arrive on Tuesday according to the UPS website. I will be excited to have it back!!

And now, on to the headline stories:

A Discovery

So I haven't ridden my bike to work in about a month. It started when I got Strep throat, and then, I lost my gloves. I thought I had left them at the Soldotna Sports Center one night when I took my son to his hockey practice. I finally checked their lost and found a couple weeks ago, and they weren't there. I was ready to break down yesterday and buy a new pair. But I got lucky. I was on my way to my games and had to stop for gas. While the car was filling up, I was getting some trash out of the car. And there on the floor between the front seats were my gloves!!! WOO HOO!!! Saved me about $40!! So tomorrow, it's back to the bicycle. 1.25 miles each way.

A Milestone

One of the main reasons I decided to run a marathon was to get myself back in shape. Yes, round is a shape, but not the shape I wanted to remain. I knew that committing myself to run a marathon a year in advance could help me drop the weight I needed to. One of the things I do to track my weight is using the daily Body Test in Wii Fit. It gives me my weight as well as my BMI. Well, about a week an a half ago, I hit a milestone. I dropped from OBESE to just OVERWEIGHT for the first time in a LONG TIME!!! WOOOO HOOO!!!! It was quite exciting to see.

And so, my quest continues. Next Saturday, I officially begin my 20 week marathon training program that I selected, and that is when I will be 20 weeks from race day. Amazing that it is coming that fast!! But I'm going to be ready for it!! I think I'll even sign up this week.

A New Year, A New Committment to Blogging!!!!!

WOW!!! I couldn't believe how long it had been since I last wrote on here when I signed in tonight. TOO LONG!!! This will NOT happen again. I sat down this week and wrote some resolutions for this coming year. Keeping up with this blog on at least a weekly basis is one of them.

I read this weekend about a guy who is planning to run 250 marathons this coming year. 250 X 26.2 = 2010 miles in 2010. Quite the effort!!! (OK, so the math doesn't really add up, but the article I read about him showed that equation.) Good luck to him in his endeavor.

My training continues, and I've been pretty good about it even through the holiday season. I'm currently running 3 days a week, doing some cross training twice a week using EA Sports Active on the Nintendo Wii, and then I have 2 rest days.

Basketball season fires up in full force this week too. It will be interesting to see how refereeing ties in with my workout regimen. I did a little trial with my Garmin Forerunner 305 during some pre-Christmas tournaments I worked. I strapped on my heart rate monitor and foot pod and threw the watch in my pocket to see what kind of distance I was getting from running these games. It turned out to about 2 miles per game, whether running 2 man or 3.

After doing this though, disaster struck. I have the best wife ever. I tell her that often. I think she might actually believe it too. After coming home from my last games during this experiment, I had emptied some of my dirty referee clothes on to the floor. In her zeal to clean them for me, she put them straight into the washer -- without checking the pockets. OOPS!!! My garmin was still in the pocket. Made it all the way through the wash cycle. The next morning I couldn't find it. Then it clicked. The pants were still in the washer. And so was the watch. What a bummer. Ruined. Not her fault though!! All mine. I thought about asking Santa to bring me a replacement. But that didn't happen. I finally called Garmin this past week and found out I can send it in and get it replaced for about half the price of a new one. So tomorrow, off it goes!! I should have a replacement within a week or two they say. I'm looking forward to that. I love all the data it gives me. These past couple of weeks just haven't been the same without it. But I carry on. 24 more weeks til my big race. I'm looking forward to it!!!