Started the actual training program last week. I’ve decided to follow Hal Higdon’s Intermediate I Marathon Training program to see if I get in better shape for the Goofy Challenge. I’ve tweaked the schedule to accommodate the days I typically run. Counting the Goofy Challenge runs, I’ll do over 600 miles for this training, which is more in an 18-week period than I usually run in 7-8 months. I feel that I can do this, though, because I’ve been getting bored, basically, with the training program I’ve used for the past two marathons. It will mean a lot of running in November and December, but hopefully, the winter weather will be closer to 2006, not last year. Two years ago, I ran in the snow twice, I think. Last year, I ran in the last five weeks of the training, including a couple of snow-ice storm type days that drove me inside after several miles.
I’m also trying to be much, much, MUCH better about food and eating. I gained a bit a weight, 5-7 lbs, over the summer as I continued my job search (still looking, but I did get a short-term contract job), so that should help with the predilection to graze a bit in the afternoons. If I could just lay off the Starbucks!
We also booked our DVC rooms for January and we’ll be staying at Saratoga Springs Resort for the first time. That should be interesting. We did cut one day off the trip, though, in hopes that I’ll have to take time off from work, just like my wife will have to do.
