Training Week 4: It's All MENTAL

"It seems like motivation (attitude) must come first, but it doesn't. The most motivating thing to most of us is to do well (achieve). It feels so good that we want to make it happen again...Every week you run farther than you ever have before in your life! What an achievement! And you have come to believe that you can do it again next week." (Whitsett, Dolegener, Kole, p.72)

The relationship between behavior and attitude is brought up in Chapter 4 of the book. Our attitudes justify our behavior rather than cause our behavior. This is such an interesting concept. We do not behave in certain ways because of our attitudes. It means that we develop our attitudes to explain the way we behave. What does all this psychological jargon mean? It means we must DO! Behavior/Actions change motivation (or lack of motivation) and bad attitudes. I need to keep running, follow the schedule, clock the miles and my attitude will follow. Endurance running is a mental sport and that is what I love about it.

Training Schedule:
Day 1: 3 miles (Monday AM) ✓
Day 2: 5 miles (Tuesday AM) ✓
Day 3: 3 miles (Thursday PM)
Day 4: 8 miles (Saturday AM)
This week two miles are added, one to the medium run on day 2 and one to the long run on day 4. A cumulative total of 19 miles. After this week, I will have run 67 miles in 4 weeks and we will be 25% through the training program.
I'm a little bit tired and a little bit sore but it doesn't matter...I am proud of myself and I'm motivated. Mentally, I feel strong and I look forward to every single run over the next 13 weeks.

Additional Running Notes:
-Thick, padded, expensive running socks are worth every penny. Get a pair and you'll notice the difference!
-I've been trying to stretch 10-20 minutes after each run and my knees haven't been hurting as much. I try to hold each stretch to a count of 30. It seems like a long time but it's worth it.
-Changing up running routes and terrain help the long runs go by faster. So does running with other people.

Training Week 3: Food, Sleep & Training Partners

Week three of training has already begun! I didn't have time to organize my training schedule and mentally prepare for the week yesterday because we had such a busy weekend. I was up until 11pm on both Saturday and Sunday night. As you could imagine, I was exhausted! I'm an advocate of sleep and believe that the appropriate amount of sleep can change your life. Anyways, let's get to the mileage:
Day 1: 3 miles (Tuesday PM)
Day 2: 4 miles (Thursday PM)
Day 3: 3 miles (Friday AM)
Day 4: 7 miles (Sunday AM)
Once again, one mile has been added to the long run. Last week I changed my schedule a little bit and ran two miles on Friday and seven miles on Saturday. After I complete this week my total mileage will be 48 miles. Damn! I've been sleeping like a baby and eating like a teenager.
I'm not sure how to calculate how many calories I should be consuming but I'm pretty sure a pastrami Reuben, fries, coleslaw, an XL brownie, coke, a salad with ranch dressing, a plate of spaghetti and a bowl of cereal all after 2pm is too much. I did burn approximately 1,600 calories running last week but that is no excuse. I'm trying to do things better this week and I hope I can contain my eating after the long run on Sunday.

I would like to introduce my amazing training partners for the marathon, Rudi and Kelsey. Okay, I'm still trying to convince Kelsey to commit but I'm almost certain she will. She is a busy, working mom of two young kids and just graduated with her master's degree in social work from Pitt. Yes, she lives in Pittsburgh which is not ideal training ground in January/February. A colossal challenge? Indeed. Doable for this supermom? Absolutely.
My other training partner lives in Chicago and is Stan's best friend since their days of high school baseball at Hickman field. Rudi is diligently using the same training book (The Non-Runner's Marathon Trainer) and schedule as I am. Being in Chicago, he has had to brave the snow for most of his runs thus far. He loves the snow! We are in contact daily to discuss our runs, injuries, icing, socks, shoes, routes and dinners. He has been a tremendous support for me over the past few weeks and I look forward to completing the training and crossing the finish line with him on May 8th.

I'm going to drop Lucky off at Stan's office for a daddy/son lunch so I can get that first three miles of the week taken care of...