Today was the first day of marathon training. I would like to apologize to all of my non-running friends and co-workers in advance. You know it’s going to happen, you were hoping it wouldn’t but alas it is. Marathon training has started and this will be just about the only thing I will talk about until November. The fact that all of you still speak to me after all these years is amazing. To show my appreciation I will buy all of you an alpaca. Well maybe a cupcake. That you all have to share.

I’m using Hal Higdon’s Intermediate I training plan, a huge step up form his Novice I plan. I’m an all grown-up marathoner now and I think my training should reflect that.

But do you see what was on the plan for this first day of marathon training? Go ahead take a look. Yes, a cross training day. You know what I did today? I ran 1.4 miles for my Runner’s World Run Streak. I most likely will not do any other type of cross training, at least not this week.

I have given up looking for a personal trainer, but if you know of anyone you can send them here for a list of my needs and anxieties. I have given up the search because it was becoming too stressful and I don’t want to carry that stress into my marathon training. It seems like every running magazine has had articles about the importance of strength training and the requisite strength training routines that we can all use. I have found a couple that I like and will start doing next week, post run streak.

I am excited about training for the marathon and well just having a training plan. It was nice to have that break from after the Brooklyn Half to now. My body, and mind, desperately needed that time off. The run streak helped me get motivated about my running again and get back to being consistent without having to worry about speed work and long runs.

In addition to a new training plan I am also going into this year with a real time goal. For my first marathon my goal was to just finish. My second, was to improve on my time for the first year but no pressure and no real specific time in mind. That is also how I was approaching my third but since that got canceled we’ll never know if it would have worked.

So I’ve got a new training plan, a sort of kind of strength training plan, and a real bonafide time goal. This also means, I still have my occasional panic attack. You know how you get over some panic attacks? By talking about it. Hi co-workers!