Let the Marathon Training Begin!

Ok - it's official.    I am now in marathon training.  and I intend to plan for success.  My marathon is arguably the most important race I have on my calendar this year and I plan to give it the reverence it needs.   I've barely squeaked by in my first 2 marathons.  I want #3 to be better.  To show that I learned a thing or two along the way.   To get there healthy, uninjured, down a few pounds (instead of gaining the marathon 15 I've gained with the other two) and happy.   I want to feel ready when I line up in Banff on June 22nd.

The plan still needs a bit more tweaking, but it is up on the Run tab of my blog.  I need to figure out my specific hill and speed workouts but I have a bit of time before I plan to add them so I will be focusing on slow and healing still for a few weeks.  I also need to rework the month of may to accommodate my trip to Punta Cana better.

My benefits at work allow me to claim running shoes so I headed out on Friday to get a new pair.  Then, I discovered that I had more money available in my benefits than I thought so I went out and cornered the market on 2 more pairs that Sport Chek had on clearance (buy one get one 50% off).   Three pairs of runners for $200.  None too shabby :)

And just look at those colours.  All violet and yellow and black and yummy.   Can't wait to start breaking them in.

I will be making a real effort to meal plan and eat healthier.  Less eating out.  Better planning of lunches for work, etcetera etcetera.   I already have a head start for meals this week, though I must confess I had a bit of a junk food binge today so need to put an end to those for this to succeed.

Most importantly, though, is that I am excited to start.  It feels good to have a really big goal again.   Heres hoping I can make a better show of it this time around.  I don't know if I will be able to blog every training run, but I'll try to do some regular weekly update recaps.