Week 3

So week 3 of training is in the books and successfully got in 5 days this week.  Still struggling some but am slowly starting to get my legs and lungs back.  Really need to start doing a better job of focusing on my nutrition but just like the running that's a process.  As much as hate the amount of whole wheat pasta and brown rice I'm going to eat over the next 7 months I need to do it instead of eating the unhealthy stuff.

On to training.  I've finally got back to uploading my runs on garmin connect so I'll start posting the links to my runs for each day.

Monday - 4 miles at 8:06 pace. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/132424591
Felt pretty good.  Wasn't struggling or breathing to hard.

Tuesday - 5 miles at 8:20 pace. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/132424581
Struggled on this one as legs felt weak and just never got in a rhythm.

Wed. - off.  Went to UNC-Wisconsin game and didn't get home till late.

Thursday - off

Friday - 4 miles at 8:09 pace. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/132424571
Felt really good on this run which I should after two days off but held back some knowing that I had my long run in another 12 hours.

Saturday - 6 miles at 8:16 pace.  http://connect.garmin.com/activity/132424563
First few miles felt blah but after a while got into a rhythm.  Probably could have sped it up some the last 3 miles but wanted to keep it steady and just get my legs used to moving for that amount of time.  Ran last mile in 7:45 so finished strong.  This felt like my first real long run of the training.  For some reason 5 miles doesn't seem long to me but tacking it up to 6 does.  Weird I know.

Sunday - 3 miles.
Just a really slow shake out run.  Didn't even bring my watch but just did an easy 3 miles.

So 5 total runs for 22 miles.  Slowly making my way up there and have a five day run week scheduled for the next two weeks before upping it to 6 days a week.  Legs are still a bit tired but have a feeling that it will be like that here for the first couple of months.  Still on my goal of hitting 40-50 miles consistently for a few weeks before starting the more intense marathon specific training in March.  Am planning on doing a 3 mile tempo at some point before Christmas just to see where I'm at fitness wise.

Fundraising update:  Thanks to generous donations from Amanda Young and Tanya Young I am at $1,396 raised which is 48% of my goal.  I would love to get to at least 50% by Christmas.  So all of you out there know what to give me for Christmas now :)

Please donate and please pass along the link to my page:  http://pages.teamintraining.org/nc/rnr12/brandonhillisformybro#My-Fundraising-Page

Till Next Week.  Ciao.