I happily made it through week one of training for Steamtown, no major issues to report. The weather is slowly getting better and its getting lighter earlier, which makes it easier to get up and get out in the morning. Only 17 weeks to go!

It was interesting that I went and looked back to where I was a year ago when just training for my first marathon, just to see the differences. My first week last year, I did 24 miles, long run of 8 miles. This year, week one was 40 miles, with a 15 mile long run. Quite a difference. I was able to do my speedwork today (7 miles) at a 7:54 pace (although it was kind of tough), compared to an 8:50 pace like I did this day last year. Its great to see how much better in shape I am (not to mention the pounds i’ve lost as well).

I do have to comment about something i’m seeing more and more as the recreational runners are crossing my path during my runs. I noticed this actually a couple times in the past week. It seems a lot of people need to learn the correct stride and form for quality running, and I do realize that recreational runners don’t care about good stride, but I see a lot of people just flappin’ their arms around, kicking their legs out, and just having their bodies do more work than what is really necessary. They could be getting so much more out of a workout. I do realize also that I used to run like this also, but fine tuned my stride and form to be as efficient as I can. This is probably the one way you can tell a competitive runner from a recreational runner. ANyway, I had to comment on that, and if you are reading the blog here, do some google research on the using the right stride and form, it really does help you get more quality out of your runs.

So we’re down to 17 weeks left, and i’ll know whether i’ll be in NYC or not 5 weeks later on Tuesday … not sure if i’ll write tomorrow, as we start the 6 day a week regimen now (with the weather changes and all). I haven’t gone 6 days in quite a while, so I have to be sure to take it a little easier, tomorrow is just a recovery … gotta remember that!