New name, new goal... same old legs.

It’s been ages since I last blogged – May 17 to be exact. The day after I ran my marathon. The day I reached a goal I’d been working toward for three long years. And after I reached that goal, I admit… I kind of hit a bit of a slump.

No, no, I didn’t stop running or working out or anything like that. But I did find myself a bit burnt out and exhausted. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do next. I toyed with the idea of running another marathon in the fall, but I kept waffling. Scotiabank in September? Goodlife in October? Hamilton in November? I couldn’t seem to decide. Nothing excited me, nothing interested me… nothing gave me that drive I had during the past three years.

After the marathon, I got to know a woman from my fitness classes named Andrea who was thinking of power walking her first marathon. She was excited, she was pumped and she was ready to take on this amazing challenge. As we became better friends, it made me realize I wasn’t feeling that way about running at all. Maybe it was the three years of obsessing over the marathon, or maybe it was just post-race letdown, but honestly, I couldn’t feel anything except “meh.”

That’s when the “summer of slump” really took off. I decided that instead of training for a marathon, I’d train for the KW Walking Classic ½ Marathon in Kitchener/Waterloo in September. I figured a race with all my Tread Powerfully friends would be fun and exciting and get me going again. I figured I needed a break –and this was the answer.

Wrong answer. While I enjoyed the experience of the race itself, I really hated the training. I hated how LONG walking took compared to running (a 10K should NOT take more than an hour! And if I’m going to be out for three hours exercising, I want to get in close to 30K – not 18!). My shoes bothered my feet. I felt tired all the time. (Full disclosure: I did keep running two times a week while training. I said I was in a slump, not dead!) I just wanted to get the race over with – I wasn’t feeling the least bit inspired.

And I ate. Boy, did I eat. Chips, chocolate, brownies, chicken wings, ribs, ice cream… treats galore! My diet was worse than it’s been in years. That’s not to mention all the red wine, coolers, Caesars and beer (BEER! I haven't drank that much beer since university!) I drank all summer. Sure, we had fun… then came September.

When September came, it was time to get back into the old routines. The kids went back to school and started at a new daycare. I went back to teaching and back to work. (I had worked ahead in the spring so I could take the summer off.) I opened my closet, reached in, and almost died.

NOTHING fit me anymore. And I mean nothing. Even my “big” jeans were tight. And my work clothes? Forget it – they weren’t coming anywhere near me. I didn’t even step on the scale because I didn’t want to know the answer. I’m going to assume it was at least 10 pounds – maybe more.

Anyone who knows me knows that I’m not the type of person to take this. Sure, I’d had a bit of a slump this summer, but I refused to let that scale creep up anymore. I refused to buy new clothes. It was a new school year – time for a new me.

I kept on training for the KW ½ marathon, knowing I shouldn’t give up after training all summer. I signed back up for Weight Watchers online to get rid of that excess summer weight. And, most important of all, I started thinking of a new goal for myself.

On September 26, I crossed the finish line of the KW ½ marathon in fourth place overall. Quite a great feeling – to be at the front of a race is entirely different than being in the middle of the pack (my usual spot when running!). I felt good that day – strong, fast and confident. I started to feel like myself again. Then, the weight started slowly starting to come off – I’m almost back into my skinniest jeans, and pretty much everything else fits again. It’s a bit like waking up out of a dream.

So it’s time to start a new dream. A new goal. A new purpose. One that involves running. And I thought to myself, what’s the biggest goal out there? What’s the pinnacle of achievement for every runner?

Boston. There, I said it. I’m putting it down on paper. I am going to run the Boston Marathon.

Why Boston? If you’re asking that, you’re clearly not a runner. The Boston Marathon is the crème-de-la-crème of all marathons. With its elite qualifying times and long history, there probably isn’t a runner out there who hasn’t though, just once, “Gee, it would really be great to run Boston...”

The goal itself is daunting. To make it just a little bit harder, I decided that I need to run Boston the year I turn 40. That means I need to run it in April, 2014. It also means I need to run a marathon in 3:45 or less in order to qualify. (The qualifying times get longer as you get older… if you’re wondering what yours would be, check it out here.)

It’s a scary goal, because in all honesty, unlike my original goal to run a marathon, it’s one I might not achieve no matter how hard I try. It’s more than just having the guts to go out there and finish a marathon – I actually have to RUN FAST. And I have no idea if I can run fast enough to qualify without dying.

I’m giving myself lots of time, though, to achieve this goal. If I want to run in April 2014, I don’t need to qualify until the fall of 2012 or the spring of 2013 – that’s still two years away. I know I need to improve on both my speed and my pacing during the marathon, but if I run two marathons a year, it’s entirely possible I can achieve this goal. I just might need a LOT of help along the way!

I’ve started by signing up for the Mississauga Marathon again next year. I am also planning to run either the Scotiabank Marathon in September 2011 or the Hamilton marathon in November 2011. (The final decision will come after Mississauga when I figure out my schedule, etc.)

But if I’m serious about qualifying, there are some things I need to do. This fall is all about starting it off on the right foot (no pun intended). Here’s what I need to work on:

1. Speed. Yeah, that’s a given. I need to run faster, which means I need to focus on speed work. To train for Mississauga, I’m going to use the training plan in the book Run Less, Run Faster. It’s a very, very specific plan where you do three quality runs a week – one speed, one tempo, one long. Each one has to be done at a particular pace, even your long runs. No exceptions! This fall, I’m going to do some of the speed and tempo workouts from the 5K training plan to make sure I can sustain this schedule come January.

2. Weight. I know, I know, I say this all the time… but if I want to truly be faster, I’ve GOT to lose some weight. It completely stands to reason that the lighter you are, the faster you run. Ideally I would LOVE to shed 20 pounds, but I haven’t weighed THAT since I was in high school. I have no idea if it’s even possible. At the very least, though, I need to shed about 10 pounds. I plan on losing no more than 1 pound a week. Ideally, by February, I should be at a decent weight to improve my speed a bit. (As my doctor always says during my physical, “Gee, you don’t LOOK like you weigh that much.” Thanks doc. Appreciate it.)

3. Get technical. I still time my track repeats on my son’s Han Solo watch. I’m thinking that’s not quite going to cut it if I want to qualify for Boston. It’s time to start using all that fancy-dancy technology out there for runners. I’ve been lusting after a Garmin for at least a year now, and have already told Mike it’s at the top of my birthday list for December. He’s a smart man… I can pretty much count on getting that Garmin! Also, over the course of the next few years, I am going to look into things like V02 max testing, body fat testing and perhaps a few other things to help me truly become a faster runner.

4. Keep strength training. Yes, I strength train a lot, thanks to friend/trainer/all-round fitness guru Sue and the ladies at Tread Powerfully. I train at least 3-5 times a week in a group setting, and also do Pilates with Lisa and recently started yoga. These are all elements that I swear go into making me a faster runner.

I ran my first marathon in 4:16, which means I need to shave a minimum of 31 minutes off my time. Impossible? I hope not… I ran my first ½ marathon in 2:10, then a year later ran it in 1:50, shaving 20 minutes off my time. My first 5K took me 35 minutes, and my most recent (in June) was 24:40. If I can do that, I don’t see how I can’t somehow get down ½ an hour on my marathon time. Not right away, of course, but probably in three or four marathons. I’m aiming to run Mississauga next spring in 4:05. It seems much less daunting this way.

So for the fall, I’m going to work on my goals. Weight Watchers is going along smoothly and my diet has greatly improved. I’m drinking a ton of smoothies filled with healthy greens, hemp protein, yogurt, almond milk, flax seed and all those other super-foods designed to keep me healthy. I’m right back on the healthy eating train (with a few treats, naturally! Just not every day) and working on some speed work and strength training this fall. Here’s what the workout schedule looks like (and yes, most workouts are completed before the rest of the house is awake… that’s how you have a husband, two kids and two jobs and fit in workouts):

Sunday a.m.: Advanced Intense Strength (quite possibly the hardest class in the world – I have never experienced pain like this in my life.)

Monday a.m.: Yoga @ 6:15 a.m.

Tuesday a.m.: Speed run or tempo run

Tuesday p.m.: Intense Strength

Wednesday a.m.: Tread Powerfully Circuits (wonderful class… when it ends in November I’m going to add a tempo run in the morning)

Thursday p.m.: Power Pilates (1/2 hour weights, ½ hour of Pilates)

Friday a.m.: Long run (between 16 and 25K, depending on the week.)

Saturday a.m.: Tread Powerfully for one hour, 25 minutes.

Some classes I’ll be missing for various reasons, but for the most part, I’ll be trying to “move” every day. Monday’s yoga classes are more for stretching rather than vigorous yoga, so that’s really a “rest” day. And there are enough class cancellations throughout the fall that I will get another day in every week or two.

There. It’s all out there. And I’m planning to update this blog far more frequently than I have in the past… especially with research, training tips, training plans, clothing and all the other things I’m learning on this journey. I’m finally excited again.

Giddy-up!