New Year, New Challenges

Now that January is here, I am even more focused on my half-marathon training. My plan is to run the Rochester Flower City Half Marathon on May 1st. I have 17 weeks, which is a bit longer than most training plans call for, but my husband designed a plan for me to continue what I have been doing all along. The idea is to get me up to running 24 mile weeks, with a long run of 12 miles, by mid-April. When I started this, I was running 5-6 miles per week, and right now I am at about 12-13, with my longest run at 6 miles. In addition to my 3-4 runs/week, I am also going to continue to cross train and do some strength training, twice a week. These elements are really important, and it seems like all of the blogs I have been reading mention that this is a goal that has not been attained, so I feel like it is something I really need to pay attention to. This will give me 1 or 2 rest days each week, but depending on how things go I may re-evaluate. The last thing I want to do is burn out!

Another new challenge for me has to do with nutrition. I am a fairly healthy eater most of the time, but this past week at home has been difficult. Too much chocolate, meat, alcohol and whatever else. I can feel it affecting my running too- today I ran 3.5 miles, but this was after breakfast out (a buffet, no less- bacon, eggs, french toast, cookies). I completely understand what it means to suck wind after today. I completed the mileage, but it was painfully slow. I have not been having nearly enough fruit, veggies and water. I am back on track tomorrow, as I head back to work. In addition, my husband and I decided that we are going to try out some new (and maybe some old favorite) recipes. I will cook on Friday night and he will cook on Saturday night. The plan is to try to new and healthy meals to add to our repertoire. The other part of this is that we are trying to save money for a big vacation in March, and the way we plan to do this is by cutting out a lot of the extras we have been indulging on, like eating out and shopping. I think we have a good plan and I know we can stick to it if we try really hard.