With the first marathon of the season down, its time to set my sights on the Flying Pig marathon in Cincinnati on May 2nd. I managed to get my training put together for the next few weeks as I continue to recover from the Ocean Drive marathon through the weekend. We’re traveling to Connecticut for the upcoming holiday weekend, so i’ll get to run on some new (well, different) terrain.

I had not taken a look at the Flying Pig course since I registered a few months back, and figured that I have a few keys to succeeding on May 2nd.. first, like I wrote a few weeks ago, I have to get my eating under control. I’ve been doing much better for the last few days after stepping on the scale and after having stomach issues last week. I really think the indigestion, bloated and upset stomach I was getting was related to the garbage I had been eating for so many weeks. Its funny how I somehow make the connection that “I can eat whatever I want, regardless of what it is just because i’m training”. That is so wrong .. trust me. Now its a matter of eating the right things .. I was eating fats and carbs and proteins, but not GOOD fats, carbs and proteins and I wasn’t watching my portions. Plus the worst thing was I was falling victim to the candy dish at work … one of the ladies has a dish of M&M’s that I just couldn’t resist every time I walked by it (i know Lindsay will appreciate my closet M&M addiction).. it always had M&M’s in it, and never seemed to go empty.

So I’ve dedicated myself to hopefully dropping a couple pounds over the next few weeks as one of my keys to succeeding..

The second key is to add in the hillwork again .. in reviewing the course, there are some decent hills in the first 10 miles that will need to be climbed, so back to the hardcore hillwork.

The third key is to add some sort of crosstraining in .. I read some good articles on different types of crosstraining I can do at home or pretty easily, including a great article on spinning. I have some guys at work trying to get me to goto the gym and do a spin class with them, guess I just have to get the guts up to go and try it, i’m sure i’ll love it. The biggest issue here is the inability to dedicate anymore time to training during the day .. I just don’t have enough hours. I’ve got to try to find a way to integrate it in using the hours I already have, not sure how to do it.

Then the last key is to push myself in this marathon. I do think I can increase my marathon finish time if I actually try a little harder. I think I have this real fear of failing and then having to deal with the struggles of having a terrible race (like at LVHNM last year)… I thought I was SO ready for that race as I worked up to it, but I so wasn’t, I bombed totally and don’t even really know why except I went out too fast .. and then ever since, i’ve been afraid to really push it and have stayed conservative in my effort. I have to find a way to get over that fear.

So I have just under 5 weeks to get all these keys together, not a lot of time, but enough time to do it. I’m actually somewhat excited about the next race already, not sure why, just something different. For the last 2 marathons (Philly and OD), i’ve worried about cold weather, and this one I don’t think I need to be specifically concerned, which is a good feeling.

Well, off to rest .. training starts up again in a few days.