OK, figured if I started this up, then I'd stay commited to posting throughout the month. I got off to a good start this morning with five miles through some light sprinkles. Finished in 44:03. I made my goal of reaching a particular landmark before a specific song started on my iPod, so I was happy with myself. Next goal is under 44 minutes. I really didn't think I'd be so into time goals, but it's interesting to see how far I can push myself. I have developed three paces - I call them "easy run", "push", and "all-out". Isn't that funny?!

Off to feed the munchkins. Happy running, all!

Kara

New thread, new thread, yay!

I did a 5k this morning and boy was it humid. Ick!

Lauriedawn: your question about rest days. I would have said walking is fine but you made the statement: "it's clearly causing stress on my legs". You NEED to have rest days. You're in a marathon training program that is going to get progressively tougher. Rest days are key to ensuring you don't overtrain or cause injury as your mileage begins to ramp up. Rest days are when your cardio and muscular systems are restored and rebuilt to a higher level -- and that's where all performance gains are made (quote courtesy the handy-dandy copy of Runner's World I happened to have in front of me)!

You're not being lazy on a rest day, you're not "wasting time". Rest days aren't the absence of training, they are a key component to it.

Good morning!!! Wanted to start the month off right

I'm off to run my 2 miles...my goal is to be able to do 3 miles by the end of April, but we shall see...2 miles just about kills me now (in a good way of course!!!).

Have a wonderful day!!!!!!!!

Good morning! I'm having a quick snack then I'm off to get groceries while the kids play outside with Grandma. Ah, the joy of buying groceries alone!

Tonight I'm heading to DH's work to use the gym. Whenever I work out at the gym, I debate whether I should be taking advantage of the various weights and the elliptical, or if I should just keep focusing on running. I make it to the gym two or three times each week and then I do the rest of my runs outside. Any suggestions or insights?

Nice run Kara....just remember if marathon is your goal, dont do those hard days all the time. Most of your runs should be easy

Going to have my first planned double today. I have been really happy with my running pattern, but team training starts tonight. But we only run 4-4.5 (hard run though) and I like to get more mileage in on a tuesday than that so I ran an easy 2.7 this morning. Hoping it is just enough to wake me up and get me going for my day without making tonight too tough.

Probably going to have a long power walk today, its sunny for the first time in eons so I think I might take the stroller and walk to get dd from preschool.

Thanks for the tip, Ennay! I usually run harder on Tuesday, take Wednesday at a slower pace, do what I can on Thursday, rest on Friday, take Saturday really easy, do a long run on Sunday, and then rest on Monday. Sometimes I set little goals for myself, just to keep my brain in the game. It's either that or do math in my head. What do you guys all think about while you run? I'm worried I'm going to be bored to death by the end of the marathon! Right now, my running project is planning my dad's and sisters' birthday cake. But something like that won't take over four hours to plan!

Ah, Kim, grocery shopping alone! I usually have to shlep at least two the the market with me, if not all three. Takes twice as long as just doing it myself! I detest running inside, especially on a treadmill, so I'd definitely take advantage of the machines at the gym if I were you.

Sweettart, sounds like a good goal to me! Increase a quarter mile a week and you'll be right on target!

Tyler, I love Runner's World! I just picked up the April issue at the store and was searching everywhere until I found it in the MEN'S exercise section! You men...stealing all the good stuff. I actually said in the store, "Girls can run, too!"

Kara

I think about sex and world peace, of course. I thought everybody did.

Yeah, those boys are always up to no good (I'm a chickie ). I can't imagine why they'd put it ONLY in the men's section. What was in the women's exercise section? Magazines for macrame and chia pet collecting?

Oh, how very embarassing. I assumed, from your screenname. My most profound apologies!!!

The women's exercise section had Women's Fitness and yoga and pilates mags. There were quite a few, but no running magazines.

Thanks for the ideas for what to think of! Now I'm going to be picturing Sandra Bullock in that movie where she poses as a beauty queen tomorrow morning!

Kara

I'm back from the gym! I knocked four minutes off of my time on the elliptical (21 minutes to do 2.5 miles) and squeaked in 4.7 miles on the treadmill in an hour instead of the 4.5 I was at last week. My legs are TIRED!

I think about how nice it is going to be when my kids are all in school and I can run at 9 am instead of 5 am.

I run with someone most of the time so we chit chat. Otherwise I think about all kinds of things. Sometimes I pretend I am in my marathon and this is my run to the finish.

Sometimes I get really philosophical...a couple of those have ended up as long posts in the main support forum.

Runners, I'm up to 4 miles now, 3 days a week. I want to up my distance, so I can get ready (hopefully) for a 7.5 mile fun run/walk in June (about 10 weeks left of training time). How can I best approach training to get my jogging mileage up there? Any suggestions or pointing in the direction of a program would be greatly appreciated! I'm not sure whether to add in more running days, or run longer all the days, or do two short runs and one long? I'm hopelessly confused! I just would like to finish, and jog the whole thing, if possible.

Hey there, Hal Higdon has some excellent plans for training for that kind of in-between distance, http://www.halhigdon.com/, check out his 10k or 15k plans.

You could add in a fourth running day and make one run your LSD (long, slow distance) or stay at 3 runs per week and make that 3rd run your LSD, both will work and it just depends on whether you want to add in other cross training or are just in the mood to run alot?

It is usually recommended to up your mileage no more than 10% per week OR by 1 mile for each training run you do.

Good luck with your training, it sounds like you are doing great!

Or instead, you could picture Benjamin Bratt in the pool scene of that movie.... and, of course, world peace.

I got in a quick two miles this morning per my training schedule.

Morning runners,

Just a quick post to say, hello, I miss you, and can't wait to be back. I ordered my double jogger with my REI discount and rebate, so all things considered got a screaming deal on it. Two more months till the baby comes and another month or two until I can start rebuilding my runs. I'm guessing I'll be starting from scratch again.

Good to see some new faces around here!

Anne

Anne, when I read the "double jogger" part, I first thought, "now, what kind of fitness machine is that?" lol. I'm such a dork. Congratulations!

Tyler, thank you for the suggestions and the link. Right now I'm off Mon, Tues weights/jogging, Wed night skating, Thurs jogging, Fri night skating, Sat weights/jogging, Sun nite skating. I feel like I could add in another day of jogging, maybe Weds or Sun morning, and I've got the cross training thing covered, I think. I'm going to check out that link right now...