Finance and Fat

That isn’t a typo, I need to train just to prepare to begin ‘official’ marathon training. Yesterday I started day 1 of a 10 week plan with a goal of jogging for 30 minutes straight at the end.The plan for week 1 is 3 days of walking, for 30 minutes, at a pace of 17-20 minutes per mile. My wife and I have been walking for 30 minutes somewhat regularly, but we weren’t focused on the pace before. That made a huge difference as we walked the same distance we had been walking previously in 30 minutes versus the old pace of about 35 minutes. Doing that in 30 minutes made for a much better workout. We went 1.54 miles in 30 minutes, keeping us just under the upper limit of 20 minutes per mile. About half of our walk is uphill so that helps to add a little challenge to the walk as well.

I am following the Preliminary Training Program from The Non-Runner’s Marathon Trainer. The plan can be found on page 9. This plan is intended for those of us who aren’t running at all right now and really have a long way to go just to begin ‘normal’ marathon training. Here is what life is going to be like for the next 10 weeks:

• Week 1 - Moderate walking pace (17-20 min./mile), 3 days, 30 minutes per day
• Week 2 - Moderate walking pace (17-20 min./mile), 4 days, 30 minutes per day
• Week 3 - Fast walking pace (13-16 min./mile), 3 days, 30 minutes per day
• Week 4 - Fast walking pace (13-16 min./mile), 4 days, 45 minutes per day
• Week 5 - Jog 5 minutes, walk 5 minutes, repeat 2 times, 3 days, 30 minutes per day
• Week 6 - Jog 10 minutes, walk 5 minutes, repeat once, 3 days, 30 minutes per day
• Week 7 - Jog 15 minutes, walk 5 minutes, repeat once, 4 days, 40 minutes per day
• Week 8 - Jog 20 minutes, walk 5 minutes, repeat once, 4 days, 50 minutes per day
• Week 9 - Jog 25 minutes, walk 5 minutes, 4 days, 30 minutes per day
• Week 10 - Jog 30 minutes, 4 days, 30 minutes per day

It’s a long road to marathon day on December 7th, and we really couldn’t have started too soon. I will likely sign up for a smaller event (such as a 10K run) after this 10 week training plan in order to stay active before starting the real marathon training, which will go for 16 weeks prior to the marathon. I’ll be back with more updates as I work on this crazy plan.

I made up my mind, partially on a whim perhaps, only giving it a few hours of thought before sending an email to all of my friends and family announcing my intention, but it’s official and there is no going back now- I am going to run a marathon!

What is a marathon?

For those of you not familiar with the details, a marathon is a long distance run of 26.2 miles. The marathon I am entering goes on for a maximum of 6 hours (after 6 hours you will be picked up by a truck if you are still on the course). Given the time limit, it’s not like I can just plan on walking it and gutting it out. I’m going to have to run! So in the worst case scenario, I would need to average 4.3 miles per hour for the full 6 hours in order to finish. By the way, my goal is simply to finish- I am not going to worry about my time- I just need to make the finish line before they kick me off the course. 

So…that’s up to 6 hours of running. Today, I ran for 3 minutes straight. It doesn’t take much math to figure out there is a huge gap between where I’m at now and where I need to be. Fortunately, I have a little less than 8 months to prepare. By the way, running for 3 minutes is part of a training program I am following for the absolute beginner who is not already running regularly. I could do a little bit more if I tried, but honestly not much more.

Why run a marathon?

If you’ve followed this site at all since I launched, you know that I’m trying to get out of debt and lose weight. Making progress getting out of debt isn’t too bad- I would like it to go more quickly, but I can clearly see the light at the end of the tunnel. Losing weight however, that has been much more challenging and I honestly do NOT see the light at the end of the tunnel. I’ve only lost about 20 pounds and my pace has basically come to a stop lately. I need to try something different! I think a marathon qualifies as something different- wouldn’t you agree?

This is a big, scary goal! I was instantly nervous and somewhat regretted sending out the email announcement to my friends and family. However, I received an amazing response of support and even got a few takers who want to run with me. I was really energized by that support and honestly there simply is no going back now- I have to do this.

This is a big goal, but it is achievable. Every year thousands of people run in, and successfully complete, marathons. Young people, old people, fat people, and fit people. It is entirely doable with proper preparation and planning. To that end, I have already read one book, have another sitting here at my desk, found some good web resources, and officially started my training this week.

Too early to declare success, but…

The coolest part about this plan so far is that I’m not focused on exercising for the sake of losing weight, but I want to exercise so I can successfully perform at this event. That creates a different mind set. I WANTED to work out today. That is not my normal attitude toward exercise. Up until now, it has been a battle to FORCE myself to exercise. I just didn’t have the motivation. Now I can focus on the end goal of finishing a marathon and let weight loss happen as a result of that, but losing weight is not the primary goal now.

The Event

I will be competing in the Tucson Marathon, which will be held on December 7th, 2008 at 7:30 AM.

This is my second public declaration of my intentions to complete this marathon (first was an email sent to friends and family). I am mostly anonymous on this blog (you really only know my first name and now where I live), but I still have a level of accountability here and some day I will likely reveal more about myself. Since that is the case, I must live up to my words and finish this. Stay tuned for more and wish me luck!

P.S.
Shout out to J.D. at Get Fit Slowly for putting the marathon idea back in my head. If he can do it, why can’t I?