11 Weeks...And Counting

Until I make a total fool of myself at the Myrtle Beach Marathon. I used the Runner's World training calculator today and according to the distance and time I'm running now, this says I should finish the 13.1 miles in 3:02:31. Being very competitive and of course a control freak, I've already made a personal note to finish in under 3 hours.

And of course since I'm a freak I've pretty much got my year mapped out next year of races I'm doing. I'm going to post them here, so that if any of you wants to join me in any of these, you're welcome to! I'm shooting for at least one race per month leading up to the big enchilada in December 2010. So here goes:

February 13 - Myrtle Beach Half Marathon - Myrtle Beach, SC

March 7 - Disney Princess Half Marathon - Orlando, FL

April 17 - Salt Lake City Half Marathon - Salt Lake City

May 15 - Ogden Half Marathon - Ogden, UT

June 12 - Teton Dam Marathon Relay - Rexburg, ID

July 17 - Bryce Canyon Half Marathon - Cannonville, UT

August 28 - Mesa Falls Half Marathon - Ashton, ID

September 5 - Disneyland Half Marathon - Anaheim, CA

October 23 - Prison Break Half Marathon - Boise, ID

November 25 - Turkey Trot 10K - Idaho Falls

December 5 - Las Vegas Rock and Roll Marathon - Las Vegas

Yes, you read that correctly, I'm going to do the full 26.2 in one year! There might be other races I do along the way, 5 & 10K mostly just to keep in shape & give me a chance to improve my times. But that's my year long plan. Anyway, I hope some of you can join me at least for a few of them. Most of these races have other distances, so if you don't feel up to running a full or half marathon, you could do a 5K or 10K instead.

And Skye, in 2011, I plan on coming to Hawaii in March for the Big Island Marathon or maybe the Maui half marathon. (I believe both of those are run in March.) So if you're not pregnant or something maybe you can run with me.

So those are my goals, and now that they're in writing it will be a lot harder to weasle out of them. Anyone else want to post their agenda?

Team Name & T-Shirts

Okay so here's a suggestion for our team name & t-shirts.

I think we should be the Furious 5 from Kung Fu Panda. (Well in this case, six.) And put our each of our faces on a different one of the animals. And the back of the shirt could say, "They were no match for his bodacity."

What do y'all think?

For the Beginners

Here's a great beginning training plan for those who haven't started running at all yet. It doesn't matter how fast you run, or how much distance you cover, the idea is simply to get your body used to running for thirty minutes. So take it easy during your runs, especially at first. Just listen to your body and go at a comfortable pace. It's suggested that you do this plan on M-W-F & Saturday and on the other days do some kind of cross training or strength training. (I'm partial to Pilates myself.)



Week 1: Run 2 Minutes, Walk 4 Minutes. Repeat 5 times.

Week 2: Run 3 Minutes, Walk 3 Minutes. Repeat 5 times.

Week 3: Run 5 Minutes, Walk 2.5 Minutes. Repeat 4 times.

Week 4: Run 7 Minutes, Walk 3 Minutes. Repeat 3 times.

Week 5: Run 8 Minutes, Walk 2 Minutes. Repeat 3 times.

Week 6: Run 9 Minutes, Walk 2 Minutes. Repeat twice then run 8 minutes.

Week 7: Run 9 Minutes, Walk 1 Minute. Repeat 3 times.

Week 8: Run 13 Minutes, Walk 2 Minutes. Repeat Twice.

Week 9: Run 14 Minutes, Walk 1 Minute. Repeat Twice.

Week 10: Run 30 Minutes.

Remember it's vital to take at least one recovery day a week where you're not doing any kind of strenuous exercise at all. This does not mean you have to be a couch potato, it simply means you're conciously not exercising to give your muscles a chance to recover.

Let me know if you have any questions on this. I'll be posting some nutrition ideas soon.

Teton Dam Marathon Relay 2010

Here's the schedule & pertinant information regarding the relay in June. I'm putting a link to the course map on the sidebar. I volunteer to take the 2nd leg of the relay since it's one of the longest and also the highest elevation. Does anyone else have a preference which leg they'd want to run? Let me know. Also, give me your suggestions on T-shirt designs so we can get those done and perhaps make coordinating signs for our team vehicle. Love you all and I can't wait for this!


TETON DAM RELAY RACE INFORMATION PAGE
ONLY 1,300 RUNNERS WILL BE ABLE TO PARTICIPATE IN THE 2010 TETON DAM MARATHON & RACES.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Jan 1 - May 31 Early Registration Open

June 1 - 9 Late Registration Open ($15.00 Late Fee Applies)

June 10, Thur. 8 am - 4 pm – Packet Pick-up @ Rexburg City Hall

June 11, Fri. 8 am - 4 pm – Packet Pick-up @ Rexburg City Hall
6 pm - 8 pm – Potato Bake Dinner @ Madison Middle School
6:30 pm – Information Meeting @ Potato Bake Dinner
7:30 pm – Repeat Information Meeting @ Potato Bake Dinner

June 12, Sat. 5 am – Load Buses @ Madison High School
5:30 am – Buses leave for Historical Teton Dam Site
6:30am – Start Marathon & Relay @ Historical Teton Dam Site
8 am - 2:00pm – Expo in the Park @ Smith Park
12 pm – Award Ceremony for full, half, & relay @ Smith Park

RELAY SPECIFICS
Relay teams should have 6 people to run each leg. The course will be divided up into four legs of four miles and two legs of five miles. Transition areas are located at miles 4, 9, 13, 17, and 21. The first leg runner can ride the bus from the Madison High school to the starting line.

It is the responsibility of the team to pick up and drop off their members at each transition point.Team vehicles must be marked as the official team transport-vehicle, only one vehicle per team. This vehicle is to only drive through the course once, no circulating the course or portions of the course to check on runners. Any team whose vehicle is found circulating the course will be disqualified. Drive slowly through the course to reduce kicking up dirt and give all runners the right-of-way.

The first and last runners of your team need to be wearing the timing chip; the middle runners don’t need to wear the timing chip. Only the team’s overall time is recorded. A slap bracelet will be provided; this is the item you use to hand off to each team member.The safety of the runners is our first priority! Please be extra careful at transition areas. Park your cars on the side roads and never on the course. Please be considerate of the other racers by not blocking the road while waiting for the exchange.

Happy Running

So here it is...The much promised training blog.

I envision this as a place where we can come to for training and nutrition guides, as well as encouragement and commiserating. This way we can all be accountable to each other for the progress we're making. And hopefully cheer and help each other along the way.

We can also post product reviews of gear, gadgets, clothing & food that have made a difference (good or bad) in our respective training plans.

I'm going to be posting local races as well, so that each of you will have opportunities to put your skills to the test before that fateful day in June. And we definitely want to hear about any and all races you enter! So please post all about it!

And please don't think that this blog is limited only to the seven of us. I know that some of our spouses have been running and their families as well, so we welcome comments and insight from all of them also!