Huntsville, Utah 26.2 it is !

Huntsville, Utah 26.2 it is !  
and
Today,  we celebrate 23 years of wedded bliss - married to my best friend for 23 amazing years.  

I'm registered,  and I'm happy to have my fall marathon selected.   I still have to make some training plans, but at this point I'm leaning toward trying the 9 day rotation schedule that I created before St. George in 2009.  It's set up to have a hard day, followed by 2 easy days.  

Basically, I will have a track day or hill repeats, followed by 2 easy days

A tempo day, followed by 2 easy days

A long run, followed by 2 easy days.  

Each specific workout will come up every 9 days with this plan.  I think this is very valuable for me.  I like high mileage and high intensity.  I'm also becoming an aging runner.  The 2 easy days gives me the recovery that my body needs, and the rotation gives me a long run every 9 days which I believe is valuable too.  In addition, with this plan, I'm anxious and ready to complete the next hard workout.  

I'm deciding if I will use McMillan again to set up the exact plan.  In many ways, that's just easier for me.  In addition, while I'm somewhat familiar, I'm not 100% confident in adding in the training phases into my 9 day rotation, so I may decide to let the professionals handle that.  

Currently, I'm upping my mileage, and I have 2 quality runs per wk.  I want my official marathon plan to be a 12 week marathon plan.   With my marathon history, 12 weeks will give me plenty of time to get ready to battle in Utah.  

Today I ran a hot and humid 5k in South Louisiana.  My time was predictably slow.  I wanted to race a 5k before my marathon training begins to see where I'm at.  Ok, I'm slow !  24:01 - but I'm not supposed to be in shape now, and I'm in the toughest part of the year for my personal running - the spring heat/humidity acclimation season.  It's brutal !  It takes me about a month, after the final cold front moves through,  to get fully accustomed to the humidity.  I'm not there yet, but I'm feeling pretty good considering. 

This was a small 5k in Thibodaux, LA.  I won 2nd place overall female - I told you it was small - maybe 75-100 entries?????  The first place spot went to a 19 year old female.  This 45 year old is OK with that!  :)

With the "real feel" temp. predicted to be 90 degrees at the finish of the race, and the time of the year, 

I feel good about where I'm at today.  

So, I've decided on a 12 wk, 9-day rotation plan.  

In addition, I've decided on the following:

**I've been biking some since the weather has been above 70 degrees (I have a 70 degree biking rule).

My plan is to continue as much as possible with the increasing run mileage.

**My plan is to run on grass, 1 x per wk, for at least 30 minutes

**My plan is to add Supreme90day back into my mix, but only 1 time per wk.   I've found this to be a great way to strengthen some of the typical "runner weaknesses". 

**My plan is to continue yoga 1 time per wk - (a staple of all of my plans for MANY years - I believe it's what keeps me injury free, so it's a MUST for me)

**My plan is to continue going to the gym 1 time per wk - I like the atmosphere that the gym offers,  and sometimes I pick up new or fresh "core work" ideas from others.

**My plan is to continue towards getting back to "my race weight" - the biggest challenge for me.  

Although, I would say I'm a relatively healthy with my eating, I'm also a "volume eater" which keeps me in trouble.  nothing new here ! 

So today, I'm happy to have the summer/fall plan,  and I'm READY to GO !