Training Starts Today

Hello All (or none):

Yes, I lost my blogging mojo as the holidays crept up, in part because I was just running base miles and had nothing worthwhile to say (and if I think it's not worthwhile, what might the general reading public believe?), and in part because of the invariably hectic nature of the season.

Anyway, today I start another 18 weeks of marathon training, following Pete Pfitzinger's 18-week, 55-mile max per week plan. I "kind of" followed that plan last summer as I trained for Chicago, but I did fewer miles and reduced some of the intensity. This time around, I plan to follow it as closely as I possibly can. The main challenge will be the longer mid-week runs; I just don't know how much earlier I can get up on a cold, dark winter morning in order to get 12+ miles in. But, I'm going to stick with it and hope to line up in Burlington, Vermont on Memorial Day weekend in the best shape of my life, injury-free, well-nourished and hydrated, ready to run a full marathon as well as I possibly can on that day. Like Chicago, I'll obviously deal with the weather, but I'm hoping for a calm, perhaps overcast, 50-something degree day. Then, I'll have no excuse not to push myself to see if my BQ (Boston Qualifying time, for you non-runners) of 3:20 (7:39/mile) is within my reach.

I'll try to keep my blog posts up at least once a week, maybe more, but since I haven't actually told anyone about it yet, I'm not sure that it really matters.

Thanks for reading, and if you got this far and have any comments to share, I'm all ears (or eyes, as the case may be).

-ESG