It was in the high 60s here twice recently, which of course gets me thinking about spring. I know we could still get slapped – late February/early March snow storms are not unheard of. But I feel like we are moving in the right direction. And you know what I’ve discovered? While I feel fit and I’ve lost weight/inches, all of those treadmill miles have left me unprepared for hills. Completely unprepared. As in, walking happens. Kind of a lot. With a hilly half marathon less than a month away, it’s time to think about that and my upcoming goals.
So, what are my upcoming fitness goals?
- Figure out how to balance the cross training I’ve been doing and my need to train for races. I have 4 potential long races coming up in the next few months and my long run today was 8 miles. I was pretty done by the end, but that may have had something to do with yesterday’s hilly run plus leg workout. Note to self: do not run 4 hilly miles before you do squats. You will not enjoy it.
- Get into the Marine Corps Marathon. Not sure if that’s a fitness goal or life goal LOL, but next week is the sign up for the 17.75. It sells out crazy fast, so I may not get in, but it’s worth a try. If not, then it’s lottery time. I “have” to run this year to get into the Runners’ Club.
- Run ZOOMA Texas without dying. Thankfully we’ve had some warm days here recently, so my body won’t go into shock at not needing many layers. But I’m woefully undertrained for the hills (not like that’s not happened before…)
- Run my first Ultra Ragnar. That’s right. I’m currently on a team of 6 with some of my past DC people for Ragnar Pennsylvania. I’m the wuss in the group, so I’ll have the smallest number of miles, but, umm, it’s still a lot of miles. And hilly, did I mention hilly? Good thing I’m training… oh, wait…
- Run another international half marathon. Yes, I just bought our Australia tickets and yes, there is a race near where we will be while we are there. Score!
It’s kind of weird going into half marathon season really strong, yet undertrained. It’s going to be interesting.
I’m joining Running on Happy and Fairytales and Fitness for the Friday Five 2.0 linkup!
I ran last weekend’s hilly half in Birmingham not having done any hill training. You’ll be surprised how much your strength training will help you. We have no hills to speak of here, so my coach makes up for it in the weight room. Now the humidity, that was a whole other animal…
Look at you doing an Ultra Ragnar! Texas sounds like a blast too. You have a fun spring line up ahead
Great and ambitious goals! Good luck
They don’t call it Texas Hill Country for nothing. Good luck! I have to get hills on my plan this time around, otherwise I don’t know how I can be prepared for my next race.
Oh, Australia? That sounds so fun! Our daughter thought of doing a semester abroad in Australia, but it didn’t work out with the classes she needed for her major…but I was stalking Australian races for several months “just in case.”
Where in Pa is the Ragnar taking place? A race in Australia sounds great! I can’t wait to hear about that one!