RunFasterSarah (my running adventures)

No way. Another week down already?!! Yep, 90km down. Haha,  and posting this as I’m well into week 7 – so much exciting stuff going on – and so many talks!!! But back to week #6…

When I first outlined these 30 weeks, I was a little hesitant to begin so far out. I mean, what happened if my motivation fell off because I was so far away from race day? That’s a lot of mileage to be putting in knowing race day is still months away.

There was no need to worry. I’m having so much FUN with it. It’s kinda crazy actually.

I must be pretty darn motivated. I don’t remember having this kind of drive to succeed since… Well, since I trained for BMO 2012 Vancouver Marathon where my current PB sits – the crazy story I tell at the beginning of all my talks. How I started eating to run and boom. Four months later I’m over 25 minutes faster in the marathon.

I love that story but it’s time for a new one. This will be the story of how I took another 12 minutes off my marathon time and crossed the finish line in under 3:21. And again I will credit eating to run. I notice an incredibly huge difference in my energy when I’m eating for performance – at this point it’s ridiculous to think I’d eat any other way. However not too long ago, I was justifying just a little bit of this, a little bit of that.

I’ve been experimenting a lot on myself. I suppose one perk to knowing nutrition is an acute awareness of how many different nutritional strategies there are, and how not all of them work for everyone. Certainly I was aghast to learn only weeks ago that a certain food I ate and promote all the time personally has a devastating effect on my body (nothing at all wrong with the food itself – it just doesn’t work for me). It throws me into low energy, crazy carb cravings and even drives my cognitive function down. Scary how food can affect those of us who deal with food sensitivities.

I’ve dealt with food sensitivities for a very long time. I thought one day they might go away – and sometimes they seem to. But when I’m under any type of stress they are definitely there full force. Currently the physical stress of running high-mileage is enough to stress my body to the point I must be hyper aware of what I’m eating. I get it right and I feel amazing. I get it wrong and I feel terrible – cravings abound, low energy, low motivation, unable to focus well or function optimally, crappy runs.

So as I finished up week 6 feeling freaking amazing, I am incredibly grateful. Grateful for a strong and healthy body that appears to be ready to perform well for me. I am incredibly excited to find out just how good my best can be. 24 weeks to go (well, 23 and a half!!). And I know if I continue to keep my food, sleep, recovery and training in line and on schedule – it’ll all fall into place.

Training — Planned Weekly Mileage:

1. Dec 30 to Jan 5 – 50km (actual – 57km)
2. Jan 6 to 12 – 60km (actual – 63km)
3. Jan 13 to 19 – 60km (actual – 63km)
4. Jan 20 to 26 – 75km (actual – 77km)
5. Jan 27 to Feb 2 – 105km (actual – 108km)
6. Feb 3 to 9 – 90km (actual – 90km)
7. Feb 10 to 16 – 75km
8. Feb 17 to 24 – 105km
9. Feb 25 to Mar 2 – 135km
10. Mar 3 to 9 – 120km
11. Mar 10 to 16 – 135km
12. Mar 17 to 23 – 150km
13. Mar 24 to 30 – 120km
14. Mar 31 to Apr 6 – 120km
15. Apr 7 to 13 – 105km
16. Apr 14 to 20 – 135km
17. Apr 21 to 27 – 135km
18. Apr 28 to May 4 – 105km
19. May 5 to 11 – 150km
20. May 12 to 18 – 135km
21. May 19 to 25 – 120km
22. May 26 to June 1 – 150km
23. June 2 to 8 – 135km
24. June 9 to 15 – 105km
25. June 16 to 22 – 150km
26. June 23 to 29 – 120km
27. June 30 to July 6 – 105km
28. July 7 to 13 – 105km
29. July 14 to 20 – 90km
30. July 21 to 27 – final taper week