I got into the New York City Marathon. Now what? Seriously, I still can’t believe it. I’ll be sitting here or cleaning or trying to fall asleep and it will pop into my mind. “I can’t believe it!” jumps up and down in my brain. Yay!
I’ve already decided on a few things. First and foremost, I’m going to do my best to get and stay healthy. February and currently bestowed on me some influenza and a bad cold/cough. Part of this is due to my sleep patterns not supporting a healthy body! I’ll go to bed in the wee hours and then get up early. I’m probably averaging 4 hours of sleep per night. It’s no wonder my immune system is susceptible to the invasion of opportunistic germs.
I already started to evaluate my eating habits. To be fair, I’m not bingeing on junk food. I also haven’t been eating enough quality foods. Or enough food in general. My berry obsession is still going strong and I’ve started actually cooking dinner rather than eating Skinny Pop and whatever else I could scavenge from my cupboards. Again, perhaps the reason my immune system hasn’t been rocking out some virus-fighting warriors?!
Getting out and about for fresh air and exercise. I’m a natural homebody and because I work from home, I sometimes forget to get outside. This certainly isn’t the case for everyone who works from home, it’s simply true for me. I think my body will appreciate some vitamin D, a cold breeze, and a little exercise.
Last and key to what I plan to be a solid training cycle, I’m going to drop down to the 10k from the 1/2 in the North Olympic Marathon weekend. In the past, I would throw caution to the wind and push my body to complete a race I set my sights on, no matter if I was ready or not. I’ve chronicled such experiences in the past right here. Ummm … many times! My plan was to do the 1/2 but this would mean crunching training and not taking enough time to build a decent base. I REALLY don’t want to drop down – I was/am super excited to participate in this local race. Nevertheless, I need to consider the long game. I did a doozy on my knee in the Detroit Marathon and getting myself thrown out of the training/end game because of my pride is silly.
Another part of this training plan, is to build a fitness base that is more than running. I know, I know – I’ve talked about this before and failed miserably. It truly is something I want to do. I know I’m capable. Now it means putting it into action <– this is typically where I fall short! So how will I accomplish this? I want to be transparent here, I don’t know. I always wanted to kick some booty in past races, so this was never the problem. The only thing I can think of is jump in, but I’m open to advice here. In fact, I would really appreciate advice! How do you create and follow through on a well-rounded training cycle?
***If you can’t tell, I adore Emma Stone!
Amy's Recipe for Disaster 