Tomorrow’s arrived, and with it, the start of the Dublin Marathon 2003 campaign. Not the official start of the training, but the nine-week preparation for the training.
I didn’t run today, and didn’t plan to. Perhaps I’ll not run this week at all. After five weeks of inactivity and over-eating, I’m about ten pounds heavier than I was for the Reading Half, and I need to get rid of this ballast before I do anything else.
Every new marathon brings a new attitude. For Chicago, I resolved not to be too obsessional about eating and drinking. I was 40 minutes less slow in Chicago than in London, but I was also 6 pounds heavier. This time I plan to drop down further than I managed last time.
The Woodley 10K is less than four weeks away. I need to be 12 pounds lighter by then. Five weeks further on is the Boreham Wood Half Marathon, the starting point of the 18 week Dublin training programme. Should be down another ten pounds by this point. It’s a tall order: 22 pounds in nine weeks. But that would get me down to the level I was at for the Chicago Marathon, and would be a great weight to be starting the proper training at. I’m going to give it a go.
One reason for this approach is that I need to protect my dodgy calf, and minimise the risk of it reappearing. It feels fine at the moment, but I don’t yet know how it will stand up to proper training again. Carrying extra weight won’t help.
So no running today, though digging a thirty foot flower bed was pretty good exercise, and I’m still feeling the effects. No chocolate or crisps. Good, sensible veggie food. Wholesomeness is normally horribly dull, but after five weeks of binge-eating, it’s a blessed relief.
[PAUSE]
Crikey, I hope it gets more interesting than this. If it doesn’t, I’ll have to stop reading this stuff…
