Marathon By 40

Back in November I set out to mentally and physically prepare for the dedication it would take to complete a half-marathon training program. I decided to walk or run/walk at least a mile every day in December just to see if I could get into the habit of getting up early every day for the run.

Well, it was half a success. I certainly completed the streak on paper. Between Dec 1 and Dec 31 I ran/walked a total of 55.68 miles, with at least a mile every day. While I didn’t get up early for each one of them, I did prove to myself that I can find a way to adapt and keep the commitment required to complete a goal or plan.

With that confidence behind me, I’ve started training for the Big D Half Marathon on April 4. After I complete my “long” run today of 4 miles, I will have finished week 2 of the 14 week plan. I’m following the Half-Marathon Run/Walk plan as prescribed in John Bingham’s Marathoning for Mortals.

So far, so good. I’ll post more later when I decide if I’m going to actually commit to running the race.

Over the Thanksgiving holiday I spent more time reading about runningthan I actually ran. But, it was time well spent as I was informed and inspired to plan my goals for 2009. My plans (more detail on these later) are to run a half-marathon in April, and to Run The Rock in December 2009.

To prepare for the half, I need to start a 14-week plan on January 5th. This plan includes running / cross-training every most days of the week for 14 weeks straight. In order to get that many workouts completed, I’ll have to get up early and do them as the first priority of the day.

The plan must start in January. It’s cold in January. It’s even colder before the sun comes up.

Now I realize this isn’t Chicago, or Pittsburgh, or Maine. We aren’t likely to get snow like the picture up above. But considering how warm it is the rest of the year, it feels very, very cold for a warm-weather guy like me. So, I need to do some (getting up early and bearing the cold) conditioning before I start (distance running) conditioning.

To prepare for January, I’m taking on a “30 in 30″ goal - to run at least 30 miles in December by running at least one mile each day for 30 consecutive days. Some days I’ll certainly run more, but the point isn’t really about the distance. The idea is to get used to getting up before the sun and getting out for a decent run; to create a meaningful yet achievable streak. If I can do this every day all month, it should be easier to tackle the discipline of the half-marathon plan.

I got this idea from bigRahn who just completed a very impressive streak himself and vicariously pointed me to the streakers. I’ll be following their rules:

A running streak is defined by USRSA as running at least one continuous mile within each calendar day under one’s own body power (without the utilization of any type of health or mechanical aid other than prosthetic devices).

My only caveat is that I’ll be run/walking, meaning I can mix in walking. The goal is to get my rear-end outside, not to break any world records for speed.

So far, so good. I started on Monday (Dec 1) and have run every morning since. Considering this is day 3, I’m 10% of the way there. Keep track of my progress over at RunnerPlus, and give me heck if you see me miss a day.

Now, off to get some sleep so I can get up and run in the freezing temps they forecasted for the morning!