It's that time of year again and with three races over the next 7 weeks I've gotta get my butt in gear. Training season for me usually starts either around Jan/Feb and ends at the end of October. I give myself a break over the holidays. Day 1 was yesterday, Jan 2nd with a nice easy 3 mile run and as always I hate the first week of training. I haven't consistently ran in a while and my body always hates the jumpstart stage in week one. After this week though I will get back into the swing of things and all of those aches and pains will go away for a little while.
All of this training and my first three races are all leading up to the Big Sur Marathon on May 1st. I'm running two half-marathons (Jan 29 and Feb 19) and one 7-miler on Feb 12th. I haven't run back to back weekly races since college so I'm pretty excited about it. It will be a great way for me to get motivated and find that competitive spirit to help me push through March and April. I've only ever ran one full marathon and it took a major toll on my body and mind pre and post-race. My training is 17 weeks this time instead of only 12 last time. I think this will help me out in the long run and hopefully I won't have as many injuries over the last few weeks.
This of course also means cutting back on junkfood and increasing my calorie intake as well as keeping a sane, sober mind throughout it all. I'm sure I'll be giving you updates as I go along!
Wow, back-to-back races? You're tough! At least the one in the middle is a bit shorter... I know how your feel about the body aches. I ran for the first time in (only a) month yesterday and my legs felt like lead and the clock only proved it. I'll be cutting back on the junk food this month too.
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