Mapping things out

There's one catch to my sudden plan to run a marathon next October -- beyond the obvious, which is that I need the Blue Jays to NOT make the playoffs (personally, I think that's a safe bet). The issue I am facing is that of creating a game plan for the coming months.

I've found a 16-week plan to prepare for the 26.2-mile run, but that's a four-month route. I have roughly 11 months before I plan to hit the streets of Chi-town. So, I guess my first steps is to simply continue what I've been doing, which is go running five or six times a week, logging 3 or more miles each time.

Since I've been home this offseason, I've done three miles on consecutive days twice, including the past two. After that, I've either upped that total to between 4-6 miles or taken a day off before returning back to a 3-mile run. In the past 14 days, I have 43 miles in the books, or a little over 3 miles per day.

I think I'll stay at that average for the next few weeks before maybe increasing that average. I'm at the point now where I can run 3 miles without really getting winded. Today, my run finished in 22:00 flat. Earlier this week, I ran 4 miles in 32 minutes (a nice, easy pace for me) and then, after a short water break, ran a fifth mile in 6:40. In the last two weeks, my quickest 3-mile run is 20:37.

The big thing for me now is to remind myself that speed isn't the most important thing. I'd love to get back below 20 minutes for 3 miles -- something I haven't done since high school. But, as I build up my endurance for longer distances, I need to tell myself that backing off on mile averages is fine. The competitive guy in me wants to keep increasing the speed on the treadmill, though.

So, while I figure out how I'm going to map out my running schedule over the next few months, the other thing I'm going to need to focus on is my nutrition habits. I've been steering away from carbs, which helped me lose weight, but I need to start taking more in again now that I'm running more. Just as I learned to limit my portions last winter, this winter I need to learn how to rework my eating habits again to include the right meals to go along with my training.

Well, that's all for today. I just figured I'd put a quick update on here. Maybe this is completely boring for the few of you who are reading this, but hey, it helps me keep myself in check. Stay tuned for more...