OMG July 1st!

OMG - tomorrow is July 1st. In less than 12 hours I can officially say I have started to train for my second marathon.  Starting tomorrow my runs are not just "runs" - they will serve a purpose to something bigger. My rest tie will have to be savored. I will need to sleep way more than I am doing currently. And I need to fuel my body a hell of a lot better than I am currently doing.

I have given this marathon training a lot of thought. Last time I ate EVERYTHING in sight. I gained 10 lbs during that 4 month training time. I missed so many scheduled runs - never my long run but there were many weeks that the long run was the only run that week. I did no speed work, no tempo work. My goal was to finish.

This time I have a different attitude about running. I feel comfortable calling myself a runner now. I feel like an athlete. I have PR'd every race I have ran this year after having my daughter. I want to continue that trend and rock the Philadelphia marathon. I want to give it the respect it deserves. I do NOT want to gain weight!

I have given a lot of time to the actual training. I have read a few books in the last few months - my favorite being Train Like a Mother. I have given special attention to start improving my core strength and trying to incorporate swimming to not constantly pound on my legs. I have restarted strength training. I have incorporated more stretching, icing, ect. I have started to look into running groups ect.

I got to thinking the last few days that I need to put just as much time and consideration into what Im putting into my body. I cannot expect it to keep up with what I want it to if Im fueling it with junk. Ive also been reading up on effects of wheat - Im reading wheat belly right now. You will be hearing A LOT more about this in the next few days... lucky you! I have played around with the idea of going wheat free quite a bit and July seems like a good enough time to do it. I will be running but it wont be 3-4 hour runs like in Aug/Sept. So come tomorrow morning - for 30 days - I will be wheat free. After that I will evaluate its effect on my health/energy ect. I will be fueling my body with complex carbs, tons of veggies, organic fruits, chicken, lean meats, good cheeses, raw nuts and many more awesome things.

** I must make a quick confession though... worried about how much I would miss so many yummy things - I have gorged on donuts, chocolate cake, bagels, cookies... and I feel like crude. Yuck!**