Three Mile Island

Saturday, 5:45 AM the alarm sounded and I lept out of bed! Or, not. In truth, I rolled out of bed and cursed the beginning of my new Saturday morning routine that will last for 5 more months. After many minutes groaning and rubbing my eyes, I chose to stay focused on the task at hand. So I dragged myself out of bed, got dressed, ate a bowl of cereal and a banana for breakfast, then headed to the training site. 

At the training site we chose our predicted pace group (I chose 15:00 min/mile) and began our first 3 mile run. Our instructions were simply to maintain a conversational pace, because our goal is endurance not speed. So I started with a slow jog to warm up and was immediately ahead of the other 9 people in my group. As I was trying to decide whether or not I should remain with the group and be social, I was joined by a young college student named Harry. It was nice to run with Harry. I pushed myself a little more than I think I would have otherwise, and I was able to keep a conversation going, something I've never been able to do while running. As a result, we both finished 3 miles in 38:37. That's less than 13:00 min/mile!

I was extremely surprised by my performance. For training purposes, we train at 1 min/mile slower than our potential. So I will be in the 14:00 min/mile pace group and we will use either a 3:1, or 3:2 run:walk ratio. I'll find out more details about the run:walk ratio next Saturday. In the meantime, I'll be cross-training, or running, 30 minutes everyday except Friday. I have officially changed from pre-training training, to AIDS Marathon Training. 

Now that I'm officially training I need more equipment. I thought this was going to be an inexpensive endeavor, but I was wrong. This weekend I purchased a Timex Ironman watch (see sidebar) to keep track of my run:walk ratio. In the near future I'll also need to get something to carry water, energy gels/beans, and a swimsuit for cross-training. The salesperson at the running store said my shoes should last me 500-600 miles (through the marathon). I'm really hoping that's true, because I'd rather not have to spend money on a second pair. It just keeps adding up.