Adding to the 2011 Calendar

Okay, folks, new plan! Instead of heading to Virginia Beach in March, I decided to register for the 2011 CareFirst National Half-Marathon in DC.

I considered entering the full marathon at some point back in October, but I was discouraged when I saw that my finish time from Baltimore did not meet the qualifying standards. So, I put the entire event out of my mind --- until this morning when I learned that I could use my results from December’s 10K to qualify. I opted for the half marathon instead of the full so that I would have no problem treating the 10-miler (two weeks later) as a race. I’m really excited about the course, which covers a good portion of the city.

The distance should not be a problem, so my training will focus on improving speed. Each week, I’ll weave in one speed workout with runs of three to five miles during the week (longer on the weekends), cycling, and strength training.

I estimated a finish time of 2:14:00 on my registration form to give myself a bit of wiggle room should something go wrong. My actual goal is a finish time that is under two hours, and 1:59:59 is perfectly acceptable.

Week 1 kicks off tomorrow (why waste time?):

Monday – Cycling and Strength Training
Tuesday – 3 miles
Wednesday – Tempo Run: 30 Minutes
Thursday – 3 miles and Strength Training
Friday – Rest
Saturday – 6 miles
Sunday – 3 miles

Let the wild rumpus begin!