Wednesday night was our first class in Change through Challenge. We got our training binders and covered some basics. Most of it was introductions and covering what we would be covering. Typical first class in that way.
I find myself really looking forward to it. Andrew, the instructor, just led his first class this past spring semester. I believe he had 21 people. All 21 finished their marathon. Some walked, some ran, all finished. That’s pretty impressive.
Initial thoughts: Where I know I can learn the most is in nutrition. This may take some work, it especially might take some humbling myself. I’ve developed some strong opinions over the years, much of them coming as a result of some tremendous albeit temporary success several years ago on the Atkins diet. Now, to this day I believe that low carb dieting is terribly misrepresented but I will say it’s hard to fathom the idea of anything good coming from carbs. Fiber carbs, okay, other carbs? Not so much.
That’s not to say I don’t really enjoy those dipped ice cream cones they have at McDonalds right now. But that’s a whole ‘nother post.
When my wife and I were dating and she was in the midst of her training for a half marathon, she had commented that one of the huge values was the way it shifted the way she looks at food, that it has helped her shift to seeing food as fuel, especially as they got into the longer portions of their training. Looking back on what I talked about in my last post, when as a kid I could just go out and do this 18 mile walkathon without any real thought or training, I think that kind of mentality has always been with me. I could just do it. But if I’m going to stretch myself into the kind of thing I didn’t ever think I could do, I have to think differently. And that includes nutrition.
There is a phrase that came out already that is sticking in my head. I’m not sure if it was in class or in our discussion after class: Trust your training.
Yesterday was our first “long” training run. It was just a mile.
Okay, I have to jump in here. I LOVE that I say it that way. Having been at a point where running a mile ever again seemed a bigger pipe dream than running a half marathon is today, I’m thrilled to be able to now say “JUST” a mile. A couple of years ago when I started doing the couch to 5k training program, I hit the point in the training where I could run a mile without walking. It wasn’t a fast run by any means, I could probably have walked it as quickly, but… I ran it. That ended up being a bigger accomplishment to me emotionally than even being able to run the 5K. It was like when I hit that first step I knew te other would follow. That’s maybe why I feel good about this now.j
So, we did this run on a good old fashioned track, 4 laps for a mile. We did a couple of laps as warmups and then did our first mile. 13:48 was my time. I’m happy with that. We talked some about a few different things, got back to nutrition, discussed warmups and stretching afterwards, and I felt good. It is going to be something like 15 or 16 weeks total, so it’s a very incremental increase in distances.
I’m optimistic. It’s a great group of people, seems like a good class…
And already I start wondering if a full marathon is in my future.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Not just yet anyway…
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