The training begins...

This week marks the first week of my 10 week (the longest 10 weeks of my life) training schedule for the Indy Half marathon. There's some sort of weird draw to wanting to run again with 35,000 other runners and see if I can beat last year's results (2:06). If anything else at least I'll be in a closer corral... maybe instead of S I'll be in Q. That alone would be an accomplishment! Although, now that I think about it, that placement would be a result of last year's accomplishments... so crap... looks like I'm going to actually have to work hard to beat my time. I surprised myself last spring at how dedicated I was to training. This worries me a bit this year because I'm already starting to watch (from the couch) that dedication go floating by the way side.

I'm a little nervous starting out this week. I'm not up to my pre-training training stamina (pre-training is the training needed to survive the training) but hopefully I'll be able to jump back into it after the first few weeks. This is the schedule that I have found that works best into my lifestyle and the website (http://www.marathonrookie.com) offers some great advice on strengthening, over coming injuries, and how to mentally prepare yourself for race day. What mentally prepares me for race day? The chocolate chip cookies at the end. Seriously.

10-Week Half Marathon Training Schedule

Week	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun	Total
1	3	Rest	3	3	Rest	4	Rest	13
2	3	Rest	4	3	Rest	5	Rest	15
3	3	Rest	4	3	Rest	6	Rest	16
4	3	Rest	5	3	Rest	8	Rest	19
5	3	Rest	5	3	Rest	10	Rest	21
6	4	Rest	5	4	Rest	11	Rest	24
7	4	Rest	6	4	Rest	12	Rest	26
8	4	Rest	5	4	Rest	9	Rest	22
9	3	Rest	4	3	Rest	8	Rest	18
10	3	Rest	3	Walk 2	Rest	13.1	Rest	21.1

This year I have also decided to run a few races before the Indy Mini on May 2nd. I'm running The American Heart Association's 15K downtown in March and I'm also planning to sign up for the Illini Half Marathon in Champaign April 11th. I'm sorta procrastinating, OKAY, I'm TOTALLY procrastinating at signing up for that race only because its only 3 weeks before the Indy Mini. I figure if I get all the races out prior to the summer then I can relax! I'm more of a fair weather runner, 40 - 75 degrees are about MY ideal running conditions, anything other than that... it's pretty much a no-go. I guess that's what the gym's for... who am I kidding, the gym is for sipping cocktails by the pool and people watching!

Since Heather recruited me last year for the Indy, I've decided to start my own recruitment. I've managed to sucker (I think) Paul into running the Illini race with me and Ben's cousin, Casey, has already signed up and started her training for the Indy race. So I'm trying to make this a family affair, mainly because I want other people to suffer too. Wish me luck!