Gosh, that period between training cycles really goes quick. Here I am on the eve of starting yet another training cycle which will consume my entire summer, take me to Steamtown again in October, and then finally to either the NYC marathon on Nov 4th, or another fall marathon, depending on if I get selected from the lottery or not.

I think I’ve learned some things though about training, and I know how to take it seriously. I know, after completing 3 marathons, the dedication and commitment you have to make to complete the training, which ultimately makes the marathon easy. My goal is to work on endurance more, by adding more speedwork and hills to the training this year, I think last year I was a little lax in putting real speedwork and hill work in. From alot of the reading I have done, these are what will help me to not struggle through the last 5 miles of the marathon. This seems to really be where the problem comes in for me, previously it was a problem with anything over mile 16, now I kind of bonk at around 21.

I’ve built a decent race, and am in pretty good condition going into training, my average miles right now are between 35-40 a week, which means I can push the training up to around 60+ miles this summer (if time allows) … should be an exciting move. I have lost a lot of weight from where I was last year, in checking, I was about 10 pounds heavier this time last year, so that’ll help too.

My final run before training was a hot one today, but a new course .. which featured some hill work (up and down). I have to work hard to find new courses I think, it keeps my mind fresh, and I always have a good run when I don’t know what to expect or how much further I have to run, I have to keep this in mind.

Tomorrow its supposed to rain, so we’ll actually take the first day of training off (ironic, eh?) …

18 weeks to go !!!!