What Are My Goals?

So the last comment said it all.  Enough about the weather!  Enough sniveling and complaining! (okay, that last part was me) How are you training? What are you training?  How are you working out?  What are your goals? 

All good questions.  I am the Pace Group Leader for the 4:30 group in my sixteenth consecutive marathon clinic.  I like this particular time group because it is filled with first-time, would be marathoners who have no bad habits.  In fact, they know nothing.  That is a beautiful thing.  They are empty vessels to be filled with the proper knowledge. They all know that I on the other hand, have run enough marathons to have made ALL the mistakes, so that when I make suggestions to them, they actually listen.  I am also fat and out of shape and a 4:30 Sunday pace is a sensible way for me to get back into decent condition without injuring myself.

I am running six days a week.  Notice I said running and not training six days a week. I can only really train 4 or 5 days a week without risking injury.  But I can easily do some easy miles whose soul purpose is to burn fat just about every day of the week. Because it is important to practice what I preach - and God knows, I do have a propensity to preach - Mondays are once again my rest day.  No running, no gym.

Last Sunday we did 14.4 K.  Tuesday I went out hard for the first time in months.  I thought I was going to die.  Shame and embarrassment are sufficient to keep me from revealing my time.  And I only did 6K because I thought an 8K tempo run might result in my death.

We did just under 16 K yesterday on Sunday.  Perfect weather, nice and slow.

I am working out in the Gym, 5 or 6 six days, for sixty to ninety minutes.  Very light weights, high repetitions, a maximum of three sets.   Bizarrely, I still think I have actually put some muscle back on.  The gym workouts are just to tone and tighten my carcass and to engage more of my muscles enough to fat burn.  I am alternating chest, back and abdominal work-outs.    My legs get enough, thank you very much.

Diet-wise, I am trying to eat far more fruits and vegetables.  I am trying to cut back on portion size.   I am trying to drink less alcohol.  More or less....

My primary goal is to be healthy.  My secondary goal is to continue to have a great looking ass in lycra-spandex.  It is after all what they make running tights out of, and I feel both a moral and aesthetic obligation to keep the world as beautiful a place as possible.  I'm just trying to do my bit.

My third goal is to get back into marathon shape.  And my ultimate goal is get back to a place where I have another shot at a Boston qualifying time.

There you have it in black & white.  In a couple of days there will be more hideous photos of my half-naked self...