"Official" Start of Training

Although I've been working out and training in the 8 months since the Detroit Marathon, today was the "official" start of training. I started off my weekend with a nap after work, followed by some carbohydrate loading for dinner on Friday night. I typically make spaghetti, but have been experimenting with different sauces, meats, etc. with Emily the last few months. Friday's meal consisted of wheat pasta (a new thing!), Prego Mini Meatball Sauce, and Garlic bread. It may or may not have looked something like this:

To do so, I awoke at 6 am and made 4 scrambled egg whites, and 1 piece of toast (my typical pre-run meal). I then headed out to the meeting spot, our local running store Gazelle Sports for the 7 am run.

I had a feeling this was going to be a good run. My legs felt fresh, and it was cool out (60F), with a little rain. Perfect running weather. Arriving, I saw a few people that I knew from training last summer, which is always fun.

When I arrived, we went through preparations for the upcoming training season. We divided into pace groups, which they recommended to run between 45 seconds and 2 minutes slower than the race pace. So I elected to run in the 9:30-10:00 pace group (per mile).

After they told us the course, we headed out. At this point, the rain had stopped, it was lighter out, and it felt great. We ran through Western Michigan University's campus, which is uphill followed by a downhill, and ran on part of my normal running course.

Water was provided at mile 1.5, and again at mile 3. I ran another half mile past the second water stop, and turned around, collecting water once again. I also had a GU, which is a 100 calorie gel filled with caffiene and other nutrients to replace what the body is burning. My rule of thumb is to take one every 4-5 miles (depending on water stations). I went through 6 of them for the Detroit Marathon last year.

The GU shot was as much of a mental burst of energy as it was full of nutrients, and I felt great heading back to Gazelle. I grabbed some water at the last water station, and when I hit 1 mile left, I turned it up a notch. With .5 miles left, I found another gear. I finished back at Gazelle with the following (downloaded from my Garmin running watch):

- 7 miles

- 1 hour 8 minutes

- 9:45/mile pace

I'm very happy with those statistics. It feels great to be training with a goal in mind, and its easier to focus and now have all my running and lifting go toward a goal.

I'm off to cook some more eggs to eat for the day and some coffee to keep me going!