on the importance of planning snacks

I travel a bit more than 50% of my time, and although I know you know this I want to reiterate - PLAN YOUR SNACKS IN ADVANCE!!!

Particularly if there is the chance that due to a hectic meeting schedule you are likely to skip a meal. Like today  - and here I am on the Acela train with smoked almonds,  the Amtrak cheese plate and a Twix that I absconded from the NY office with. Gross.

In my defense, I did actually plan my snacks but I left them on my kitchen counter in my 6:30am dash for union station this morning. Another excuse, anyone?

Have to use the remainder of the train ride (only about 20 mins to go now) to psych myself up for my speed work tonight. Yippeee!!! Can't think of anything I would rather do on about 4 hours of sleep and a gruelling day of meetings :)

The (belated) running plan for this week (Week 7 of 16)

Monday - catch up run from last week, 15 miles (complete)
Tuesday - rest
Wednesday - 7 x 800m
Thursday - 8 miles
Friday - rest
Sat/Sun - 17 miles

The only complication this week is my July 4th vacation to Puerto Rico. I'm going to stay at the Vieques Hotel. I'm typically not really a resort person but I couldn't resist...and I do like W Hotels even though the staff usually have a touch too much attitude for my liking....I think I will be the only mad person in there trying to run 17 miles on July 4th holiday. Goal: get it run Saturday because it would be really boring to have to run it on Monday after flying back in to DC!!!

15 miler complete on Monday night

Yes, it happened from 7:45 through to a little past 10, as I couldn't get out of the office early. It had to primarily be run indoors because it was getting a bit late to hit the W&OD trail and I was running out of light.

Basic stats: speed: 6.7mph the whole way through, except for the last mile which was run from 6.9-7.5mph. I threw a few hills only into the last 2 miles.

I think this was officially my best run ever... on track for my under 4 hour goal although it's hard to know yet if I can sustain this pace over a marathon distance...

PS I ran today for the first time with jelly GU chomps rather than gel packs - does anyone else run with those? I found them kind of hard to chew while running, but a great runner who I know who has run multiple marathons swears by them. Thoughts?

Some recommended reading

I particularly enjoyed the Haruki Murakami novel and highly recommend it. I am about half way through Born to Run and I'm really liking this one too so far. Interestingly, I have read almost all of Murakami's novels to date and this is actually the first of his that I have really enjoyed, because it didn't feel cold or veiled in clever intellectual distance as he usually is.

OK - so the long run is not going to happen today.

Woke up still feeling a bit achy and tired, despite exceptional frozen yoghurt with fresh berries (my new obsession) last night.

I just don't think my body wants to cram my training into the last three days of the week - which means this big run needs to happen tomorrow and today is a rest day. Ugh, this is a much less enticing task to start the week off with!

For full transparency, I have also been somewhat tempted by the very yummy menu at Cityzen in DC, at the Mandarin Oriental and am going there to meet a friend for dinner, which makes a 2.5 hour or so run a bit less appealing.

Do you think I'm making the right choice? I suppose I could still fit a short swim in, but a big part of me just wants to veg this afternoon until I need to head out... lamewad excuse or valid exception? I have no idea.

5 miles complete

OK - so far this catch up plan is happening! Because the weather is sooo warm today, I decided to do my 5miler at the gym in the complex where I live. And of course, there is a pool party going on just outside, ouch!

But I kept to it, at 6.9 mph and 7.1 in the last mile.

Do I really need to do the 15 miler tomorrow? I've been SO good yesterday and today!!

Going to do the 5 miles

What constitutes a perfect Saturday?

So far this morning I have completed my expense reports (yes I am almost owed 5 figures in less than a month of not submitting), eaten avocado on spelt toast and vegemite on toast and caught up on back episodes of Royal Pains... kind of really just catching up on life. The upside to being away from New York and away from all my friends (if there is one) is that you don't have the same kind of distractions. Having said that, I am super looking forward to moving back in late July.

Now, to get the 5 mile run done before it seriously becomes afternoon...planning for 6.7mph, which is roughly the marathon pace I will need to run to get to my goal of under 4 hours. OK then, so maybe I need to go for 6.8 or 6.9 so I have something of a buffer?

Then perhaps the pool? The weather is kind of perfect but the sky has a thing in it that looks like a threat of storming or rain. After the 2 hours that we spent on the runway earlier in the week waiting for storms to clear out of Dulles I am suspicious of anything that even remotely looks like bad weather...

OK, to run now...

5x1200m - complete!

One down, two to go.

It occurred to me that I should probably post up my marathon training schedule - it has all the formulas in it and is (embarrassingly) geeky but helpful to track your progress.I'll create a runner's resources section soon with all that stuff in it if you're working out how to run your first marathon.

delinquent week 1

Horrified to admit it but this was a complete no-training week - my first in probably over a year!
Mon-Thursday of no running, ugh!

Although this is no excuse I did have three public speaking engagements (all of them data driven and therefore intrinsically stressful to make engaging!) and spent 4 nights out of 4 in a hotel room (three different hotels). Boo hoo. I absolutely have to swim and run today or I'm going to climb up a wall!

Plan today: 5x1200m + swim
Tomorrow: 5 miles
Sunday: 15 miles

(and yes, I know every marathon training program tells you not to cram your training. So sue me).

Stay tuned...

my motivation for training

This was the view from my hotel room in Hawaii.

I have since promised myself to only pick gorgeous places to run in.

I'm thinking this is worth 26.2 miles and six measly months of training...

The trick is to make the why big enough to motivate me!

Honolulu, I love you... and Sydney - I miss you!

beyond my first marathon

Last year I ran the Honolulu marathon in December, and it was awesome. It was my first marathon, and my first time in Hawaii. I had begun training with a friend, but when they dropped out a few months out I decided to continue on - I hadn't, after all, been training on hotel treadmills in strange cities as I traveled for work for nearly six months, for nothing!

I ran a respectable time: 4:28, and this year I have a goal of coming in under 4 hours. I am planning on running the Kauai marathon in September and then Honolulu again in December (yes, I do see the Hawaii theme emerging). I live in New York where it gets cold, so any excuse to head to warmer waters, particularly if I can couch it in something that is good for me, is a big win!

So I am into week 6 of the FIRST marathon training program, and tonight I ran the long run (14 miles). I am struggling to stick to the marathon plan (I naturally prefer a more ad hoc approach), but have gotten a bunch of glowing recommendations about how it can improve your time, so I'm giving it a whirl.

This week 3 runs: 10x400m; 6miles, 14 miles

Top tips for myself: don't think too much before you go running - just get out there and turn your brain off, it's over before you know it. I didn't get out there until too late today, so I ended up having to do my long run on the treadmill at my gym - but fear not, other than having found my lost ipod and all of my music, Remember the Titans was also running so Denzel kept me company on my run.