With 8 weeks to go until the Rocket City Marathon in Huntsville, Alabama, I decided to give it another go at a marathon PR. Initially, I had planned to try to qualify for Boston, but since I did not stick to the actual 16 week marathon training program, instead opting for an ultra per month with lots of tapering and recovery periods in between, I am going to shoot for "just" a PR, instead. The goal is a time of 3 hours 29 minutes and 59 seconds. Anything faster than that is just icing on the cake.
Today's workout called for a speed workout (1 mile warm-up, 15x 200m fast with 100m recovery jogs, 1 mile cool down). I was able to convince Richard and Jay to join in the fun and we all met up at my house at 6AM this morning. We decided to run to UAH and find a sidewalk stretch suitable for our speed work. Although we initially struggled to maintain the 1 mile warm-up pace, we generally had no problem maintaining the required pace for the 200m intervals. It actually felt pretty comfortable. After all, I just had to run just above my 5K race pace for each 200m section.
The weather was perfect around 58 degrees and we were done before 7AM, leaving enough time for a proper breakfast. I had had my body fat measured after the 5K race this weekend and it wasn't pretty. As a result, I decided to get serious again, not just about my training but about my diet, too. No more fast food, no more chocolate bars, no more gummi bears, no more ice cream. At least, until I am at my target weight (just about 10 lbs. lighter than now). I am also adding biweekly Muscleworks and Pilates workouts back into my training schedule to improve my core and upper body strength. All in an effort to get lighter, faster and stronger. I plan to maintain this training/diet schedule for 8 weeks at which time I will reevaluate my fitness level by running the Rocket City Marathon. It's ON!
Today's workout called for a speed workout (1 mile warm-up, 15x 200m fast with 100m recovery jogs, 1 mile cool down). I was able to convince Richard and Jay to join in the fun and we all met up at my house at 6AM this morning. We decided to run to UAH and find a sidewalk stretch suitable for our speed work. Although we initially struggled to maintain the 1 mile warm-up pace, we generally had no problem maintaining the required pace for the 200m intervals. It actually felt pretty comfortable. After all, I just had to run just above my 5K race pace for each 200m section.
The weather was perfect around 58 degrees and we were done before 7AM, leaving enough time for a proper breakfast. I had had my body fat measured after the 5K race this weekend and it wasn't pretty. As a result, I decided to get serious again, not just about my training but about my diet, too. No more fast food, no more chocolate bars, no more gummi bears, no more ice cream. At least, until I am at my target weight (just about 10 lbs. lighter than now). I am also adding biweekly Muscleworks and Pilates workouts back into my training schedule to improve my core and upper body strength. All in an effort to get lighter, faster and stronger. I plan to maintain this training/diet schedule for 8 weeks at which time I will reevaluate my fitness level by running the Rocket City Marathon. It's ON!
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