So yesterday I wanted to continue some hill workouts that would prepare me for the September marathon, but I needed to have energy left for the rest of my busy Saturday. I drove up the road to a small hill, parked my car, walked up the hill, and ran down. Once at the bottom of the hill I turned back and slowly jogged back up and ran back down again. I repeated that six times for a total of seven hills. According to my GPS the bottom elevation read 4469 feet and the top elevation read 4514; thereby making a total difference of 45 feet. The length from start at the top down to the bottom was, again according to my GPS, .38 miles. Long story short, it was enough of a slope to practice running down hill.
I got five miles of ups and downs yesterday. I then got back to the car, stretched some, drove to the grocery store, and bought a small bottle of chocolate milk. A few days earlier I read in a magazine article that chocolate milk can work great as a recovery sports drink. I guess we’ll see whether that works or not. To say the least it was a change of pace from the normal Gatorade I consume after workouts. I got home, stretched a little bit more, and applied ice to my lower legs because they needed it. BTW, thanks to all of you who give advice on dealing with sore legs and shin splints. I used the dixie cup method on my legs before showering and continuing with my busy Saturday. Thanks goodness I had some time midmorning to have a good nap.
My first marathon was back in 2004. My training plan back then was rather sketchy, if I had one at all. I have completed several since then; however, this time around my goal is not to merely finish but rather to qualify for Boston of 2009. That means a time of 3:10:59 or faster. Fast! Sometimes I feel like my training these days are as sketchy and inconsistent as my first marathon in ‘04. September is a while away from now which means I have time on my side to get things right.
I have to confess that even my blogs on this site are becoming more rare. I have developed a habit of not blogging my workouts. If I miss a day or two that’s fine…as long as I do the workout it doesn’t matter if I write it down. So those of you out there who read my blogs make sure that you receive regular posts. Feel free to remind me, just say “hey, warbles64, what’s up? I haven’t heard from you in a while.”
I also worry that my workouts are not enough. More specifically, I worry that my long Saturday workouts aren’t long enough. Boy, it sure is more difficult to train when I’m out of college (because nowhere in life will a person have more spare time than in college), newly married, working full-time 8-5, and have no summer vacation like I did when I was in school. I suppose the reward will be more meaningful with more obstacles to challenge me.
This next week will be a boot camp at the local gym. Boot camp, please (sarcasm in that statement). I did “real” boot camp when I was in the army. Then again, after talking to one of the fitness trainers last week I feel that I will do it anyway. It turns out that one of our instructors at the gym is also training for the same marathon in September. We talked for a few minutes after class about the race. She also said that I could bring my own army whistle to boot camp. Fun!
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