marathon in the making

So I’ve tested out my legs twice now in a marathon and so far I’ve been pretty stoked with my results. Running has always been my jam, way back when in year 3 I was oh so excited to be asked to represent our school in the year 4 category in cross country, and even more so when I placed 7^th. I would have loved to see my splits for that.

 living the dream in year 3... that ain't no lululemon top.

Now it’s time for me to ditch the 7hrs of exercise, yep that’s right the only marathons I have raced have been at the tail end of an Ironman, and see what I can do in 42.2kms. With Melbourne Ironman being my first marathon, I had only ever ran 36km in training and managed to whip out a 3:27hr and in Hawaii after an epic 7hrs on the bike alone I ran a 3:47hr.

No surprises here, I’m setting myself a challenge. I want to bring this soul marathon in under 3hrs, and because what you say you create, my goal time is 2:55hr. I’ve literally just done the math for the first time and that’s looking like 4:14min/km, haha love it! I’ve totally got my work set out for me.

I’ve picked the Traralgon marathon on the 21^st of June as my mission. Keeping it country and humble. I’ve heard it’s a decent course and not too busy, and I like the sound of that. I’m 3 weeks into a 16 week program and already, just from consistency and a gradual build, I can feel my body regaining that fitness and the speed I had a fair few months back. Just as if you were building up from 0-5km, it is in small increments that you see the improvement and benefits; one giant quantum leap would only leave you in a lot of pain and hating it completely. I’ve learnt to be patient and trust in the process.

Whilst I do love running I feel, that on it's own 4-5 times a week, it’s too much impact on the body. So even though triathlon isn’t in the forefront of my mind I'm enjoying the fact that I am cross training, mixing it up with a ride and a swim once or 2 a week; keeping it nicely balanced.

Alrighty, so 2:55hr is it … wow, baby steps (a lot of them) consistency and keeping it fun is what’s going to get me there.