First Post :)

So here I am 11 weeks away from my second marathon, Buffalo Marathon May 25, 2014, and I've finally decided to keep a workout, food, and thoughts journal. My first marathon was on October 20, 2013 and was the Empire State Marathon. I trained really well up until September 1, and then I fell off the wagon hard. I dropped my weekly miles by quite a bit and in the end finished my marathon, slow, embarassingly slow (5:46:51 and 492 out of 522 runners). That means there were only 30 people slower than me... yeah not a good feeling for someone that considers themselves an athlete. But, it was my fault. I didn't keep up my training, my longest run was 18.12 miles and that was 7 weeks before the actual marathon. I also didn't rest enough in the days leading up to the race. So yep, need some improvement there. I plan on being under 5 hours this time. There is no doubt in my mind. My goal is 4:20 but anything under 5 will satisfy me and show great improvement.

This time around I'm following Hal Higdon's advanced marathon training program #1 http://www.halhigdon.com/training/51141/Marathon-Advanced-1-Training-Program It is pretty intense and includes speedwork (which I hadn't done before) and more longer runs, hitting 20 a few times.

This is a list of the races I plan on doing this year!

March 15, Hermon 5k http://www.orebedmaplesugarshack.com/sap-run-5k-walkrun
April 27, Rochester 1/2 marathon http://www.flowercitychallenge.com/flower-city-half-marathon
May 4, Color Me Rad 5K in Syracuse http://www.colormerad.com/race/syracuse
May 25, Buffalo Marathon 26.2 http://www.buffalomarathon.com
June ?, Madrid 1/2 marathon http://www.northernrunner.org/ramble/
July 13, Boilermaker 15K http://www.boilermaker.com
July 19, Canton Mud Run 5 mile https://sites.google.com/site/cantonmudder/home
August 31, The 18.12 Challenge 18.12 miles http://www.1812challenge.com/#!active-registrtion/c218n
September 21, The CNY Bread Run 1/2 Marathon http://breadrunatfabiusny.org/
September 26 Ragnar Relay http://www.ragnarrelay.com/race/adirondacks
October 4, Freedom's Run Marathon WV http://www.freedomsrun.org/

Depending on my level of fitness I have a few more races in mind :)

So a huge goal of mine, that I have yet to manage, has been to hit 100 miles in a month. I'm not sure how it hasn't happened. There were 2 months last year that I was at 97 miles. 97 miles and somehow didn't kick my ass into gear and run 3 more. Then last month I should have easily hit it, but, I got overwhellmed with life, my sore back, and over working out. Yep, excuses, and lame ones at that. I finished last month at 82 miles. This month if I miss ZERO more of my runs I'll hit about 162 miles. And, yes that's a big jump in milage, but, it wouldn't have been had I completed the 130 miles I was supossed to last month. And, I say about because of tempo runs and hills and those I just estimated the distance. It's March 8, and I'm at about 12 miles... yeah not a good start :( Hopefully, by the end of the week I'll have hit 26 miles and be off to a better start. I want to crush that 100 mile marker. And, with warmer weather slowly creeping it, it isn't so painful to suit up and go outside.

So I eat vegetarian and mostly gluten free (yeah I have a splurg here and there). I am working on eating clean and try to do better every day. Hopefully, posting it up here will help keep me honest and on track!!