Back to Training

August is almost over, and I am happy to share that my first month of training is almost complete.

I want to run and finish a marathon, my fifth, this coming December.

As expected, I am having lots of trouble and pain, running again after 15 months of layoff has been difficult. I'm bigger (read: fatter), slower and my endurance is lacking. Just to give you an idea of my current fitness level: I took a break when I'm running 30+ kilometers on Sundays, now running 3Km is the norm.

But I'm happy to be back and I'm happy to be trying to be back. I may not be able to run a December 2013 marathon under 4 hours (realistically I know it's not feasible right now), but I believe there is much left in me to able to finish a December marathon. That is my mindset. That is my goal. That is what I'm training for.

August, September, October, November. I've got four training months. Now, it's down to three after almost completing August. I've run 13Km last Sunday at about a little faster than 8:00 minutes per kilometer. There is no speed run to talk about, no interval runs either. Weekdays, I'm just running 3 to 7 kilometers. Weekly, I'm good enough to compile 7-21 kilometers. Sometimes my mind and body wants nothing to do with running anymore (7-kilometer week), and sometimes I am able to pursuade myself to get out there and run (21-kilometer week).

For this coming September, my goal is to run 21 kilometers on a Sunday long run. Training gets harder, and that's just the way it should be. I have to feel how it was to run long and hard, how it was to run happy and free at least a few more times.

Back to running once again. God help me.