Reestablishing habits

One negative of marathon training is that it takes me out of my normal routine.  I am a creature of habit.  I like discipline.  I enjoy starting my day the same way Monday-Friday: in the gym.  For me, marathon training is too taxing on the body to maintain this level of activity.  I have experimented a bit with the workouts I can include, but I usually reduce my weight training to 2-3 times a week.  The nice thing about my gym is that we workout in group classes, which facilitates keeping a schedule/routine.  There is no sleeping in 15 more minutes unless you want to be 15 minutes late.  Running gives me some undesirable flexibility.  Regarding diet, marathoning requires a significant increase in carb intake.  Not only do I need carbs to fuel all of the running, I develop what is at times an insatiable hunger and eat just about everything in sight.  Needless to say I am completely out of routine right now.

So today, I begin the journey back to my old habits.  A friend of mine had a really good week last week with his diet and exercise and this week I hope to join him in his success.  Last week I got an email with some guidelines for healthy eating.  It was good timing for a reminder of simple health "rules" to live by.  The two that are most important for me are staying hydrated and eliminating white sugar (and white salt and white flour).  To me the transition is the hardest part so I'm starting small working one these two things alone.

I actually have decided that my marathon season is not over :o) so I hope to incorporate a healthier diet into my training for the next couple of months.

Marathon week

I think this is the first time I have felt this excited about a full marathon.  This will be my fourth and I am really looking forward to it.  All of the marathons (fulls and halves) that I have run have been in other cities.  I have shied away from the Austin marathon because it is notoriously hilly and 26.2 miles is hard enough without obstacles.  This season I decided I would first train for the Dallas marathon so that my endurance would already be built up and the hills would be less painful.  This kind of worked lol.  I didn't train the best going into Dallas and during that race I "only" made it to mile 15 before I needed a walk break (the first time I did Dallas I was able to make it to mile 19).  Nonetheless, a 26.2 mile "training run" is under my belt.

What has really helped me mentally is the run my group did a few weeks back.  It was a 20 mile run but most of it was on the course route.  We ran from north Austin through downtown and back so the hills were on the back end of the run.  They were tough (and abundant) but actually not too bad.  The good thing is that during the actual race they are on the front end of the race so they should be even  "easier."  The last 6.2 miles of the race (bka the "second half") is downhill.  This is perfect :o).

What's also really cool is that since I live here, I truly get a perception of how far we're going.  When I ran Dallas my friend told me she couldn't believe I ran "all the way out there."  I'm familiar with the Dallas area, but I really understood what she meant after that training run.  I normally drive from North Austin to the lake here to do my long runs.  That day I ran there.  It was a phenomenal feeling.

I've been keeping an eye on the weather.  So far I'm seeing low of 55ish, high of 65ish.  This is a bit warm for a runner.  In Austin, the lows occur around 6 am so the lower the low, the better.  It's amazing what a difference a few degrees makes.  My marathon PR is 4:33 and I had on a hat, jacket, gloves, and hand warmers that day.  But I am grateful none of the predicted race day temps start with 7 :o).

Can't wait for Sunday!