After struggling through the day on Sunday and Monday, recovering from my PR performance at the half-marathon, its time to start considering the training for Steamtown. My legs were like jelly all day, real sore, and I felt really drained. I don’t feel I was eating enough after the race and even into Monday because I felt dehydrated, however I wasn’t. I did goto lunch on Monday with the guys at work, ate half a pizza, and surprisingly felt better. I think I needed that. At this point, my left calf is a little sore, thats about it, time to head out and get the last aches and pains done.

I know there are a few things I need to consider while training that I learned in the last training set, and that is getting in some crosstraining somewhere, to help strengthen my knees and muscles that aren’t used as much. I think i’ll consider buying a mountain bike of some sort and getting in a bike ride as well as a run each day … I know pace is important, because I won’t be able to run an 8-minute mile doing the marathon, I have to be realistic. I’m training to run it in around 4 hours, so that makes it a 9-minute mile, I’m happy with that.

The formal training for Steamtown doesn’t begin until June 6 (which would be 16 weeks of training), however in the mean-time, I don’t want to lose what i’ve worked so hard to attain (like my weight-loss and aerobic ability). I plan on keeping the mileage up until then, however slowing down the intensity a bit to let the body rest until the 6th. I’m not sure i’ll follow that (just knowing how stubborn I am), but we’ll see. I only plan on running 5 days a week for the next few weeks, that extra day of rest does wonders, I’m really sore ..

The best part about this time of year is the weather is beautiful now, so i’ll work on my tan as I train … no more bundling up. Its funny how I look back on my training log from the winter, and how I got excited when the temperature went above 35 degrees (remember the hat, the gloves, the pull-over … ACK, what was I thinking!!!)

I formally registered for Steamtown, so now I am committed to running it.