I think the time I get home to start my blog posts keeps getting later and later. It is currently 9:30 pm and I just sat down.  I love being busy and having lots of work, but there is NOTHING better than coming home and enjoying some time on the couch with my husband. I look forward to it from the moment I leave the house in the morning.

This morning my day started around 6:45 am. I got up and completed my normal morning routine (i.e. feed all the animals and take the dog out), grabbed some breakfast, and was out the door in about 20 minutes to head to the gym.

 

My workout looked a lot like yesterday – 90 minutes on the spin bike.

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The spin room was completely empty. This was actually really nice because it allowed me to relax and start the morning off easy.

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After workout pictures – awful hair and all!

Coffee was also necessary to get through the work day afterwards. 

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I just couldn’t seem to wake up!

 

A couple of you asked about my spinning sessions. There are two important things to note about the sessions:

1. They are not high intensity.

2. They are simply to keep up my endurance for extended periods of time.

 

Cross training is a tough thing because nothing really mimics the endurance and act of running identically, but there are things you can do that will keep your endurance up during a time when you are not running.

1. Spinning

2. Poll Running

3. Swimming

I have done a little pool running, I’m too much of a wimp to get in a cold pool right now, so I opt to spin 95% of the time.

 

The key for me during most of my spinning workouts is to simply keep up my endurance for a longer period of time. I typically will set my bike on a 7-8 resistance and keep it at that for most of the workout.  If I do intervals it will be sprints or occasionally change in resistance for a set amount of time. Overall they are very simple workouts.

 

If you are newer reader (and since I got a few questions in the comments) my ultimate goal is still and always will be to quality for the Boston Marathon. It has always been a dream of mine that I didn’t used to think would ever be a possibility.  In fact I used to joke about it, but early last year I finally started to see that maybe I could be make the dream a reality one day.

I have run two marathons in the past with my PR being 4:28. It’s a long way off – I know this. I also know that if I take the right steps that one day I can make it happen.

I began training but as most of you know I suffered an injury set back.  

My dream is not gone. I still plan on getting back into training very soon and slowly work my body back into shape to begin speed training again. Once I get back into speed training and working on getting quicker I will slowly work my body up to where it needs to be. I have no idea how long this will take.

At one point I had the plan of running ONE marathon in hopes of qualifying, but now I have decided the smarter way for me to approach this is to set smaller goals. Each race I do, each training piece I complete, will have a time goal attached that will slowly work its way down.  I feel that this will be a safer approach for myself and my body.

 

Do I have an exact plan in place? Nope.

Do I have each race scheduled? Nope.

 

If I have learned anything during the past several months it’s that life has it’s way of changing your plans. I will eventually have a training plan and decide on the races and my time goals, but for now my goal is to simply get my body where it needs to be to train.  I have to be in the right place before I commit to a plan. I know how my mind works and how determined I get and if I jump back into exacts it could possibly mean another injury. 

What’s the purpose of going through all this? I have gotten a few questions about my goals AND I want you all to know that it’s okay to not have everything planned out. It’s okay to have dreams that are still a far ways away but still be at the forefront of your mind. It’s okay to set your dreams big. I know it’s not going to happen tomorrow, next month, or maybe not even this year. I also know that it will happen and that I must go about it the right way.

Small Steps

It’s about taking the small steps that will lead you to something great!

 

What is a big dream of yours?

Do you follow a training plan or just go with how your body feels?

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