How my marathon training is going (minimalist style!) & I bought another pair of shoes 😅

If you read this post you'll know I recently committed to training for a marathon (or a similar race of a similar distance) for July (or August) this year. (The last post I wrote on this subject will explain why it's not just I'm running a marathon on this date).

I'm using this goal as a way to make myself apply the things I'm learning in this awesome book 👇

I've tried many, many approaches to training in the past. Many of them were unsustainable and I'd get sick or injured or burnt out, or all of the above.

While I'm far from new to many of the ideas in this book (having read the first book, "Born to Run" back in 2009 and immediately beginning to apply what it revealed to me) there is still so much in here that I'm being realistic in my implementation.

I'm expecting to take all of this year and maybe some of next year to transition to really, really good running form.

I'm hoping, and fully expecting, that in the process I'll resolve the niggly calf issue I've had coming and going for years and that I'll sort out whatever has been coming and going in my lower back.

Today is Sunday, and this was week 1 of my new, very reasonable training plan that I've come up with (with my partner's help). Brad's been running all his life and as a man in his mid fifties he's still keen as heck to keep running stronger, faster and better, forever.

He's learning and implementing right alongside me. It's way easier with two of us (mostly) on the same page. And definitely fun to live with a fellow enthusiastic runner with whom I can discuss all the many unconventional but extremely logical ideas presented in this book.

Now, I was telling you how my training went for the week, right?

Well, if you read the last post you might recall that my very official training plan for January--that I scribbled in pencil on the back of something else--looks like this:

That means in week 1 of January I had planned to do 7 sessions that were 20 minutes in length, all of which were easy bar one which could be hard.

How did I do?

Over the 7 days of this week I've done 5 sessions so far. There were a couple of hiccups but I knew they were going to happen and they'll continue to happen all year, I'm just never sure which weeks they'll affect until I'm in them.

Monday we were driving for much of the day on the way back from a long weekend trip. And this weekend my period came early so today I have very little desire to get off the couch. I'll be listening to my body rather than pushing it as I used to in the past.

Still, I've managed over 10,000 steps total each day except today.

I did two cardio/strength sessions. 1 was focused on ally major muscle groups; the other was focused on familiarising myself with and testing out exercises from Born to Run 2. Some of them were hard, yo!

It's insane to me that I can feel otherwise fitter, stronger and faster than almost every other woman I know that's my age and yet this book is helping me find all these weaknesses I didn't know I had! No wonder I keep getting niggles all over the place!

On Tues & Thursday I did two easy (okay, easyish) runs. I was trying to keep it easy, and do fast cadence, and not go too much over 20 mins. I think I did okay. They call it a practice, right? 😅

And on Saturday I did 5km at parkrun, of course 😉 It was longer than 20 minutes, of course 🤣 But I did aim for easy. "Aim" being the operative word; my heart rate was much higher than I would have liked! But I held back and focused on thinking the word "easy" and trying to take more steps per minute than usual.

Gosh, it's a process!

Week 1 (basically) done ✅

I might help Brad with the mowing later just to move this body a bit more and get my step count a little higher (it's currently on 2,226... at almost 2 o'clock in the afternoon 🤭). But if not, I'm still happy with my progress. It was always going to be a little messy and I'm okay with that.

If I can move regularly, stick somewhat to my training plan, stay mostly pain- free, keep learning and keep applying what I learn I'll be well on my way to this marathon (or similar thing!) in a handful of months from now.

Oh! And I bought (another 😅) pair of shoes.

Yesterday Brad and I went out for a lunch date (a rare thing for us!) and went for a bit of a sneak peak into three op shops (aka charity, second hand goods stores). Really decent minimalist shoes aren't always easy to get and often still sell to the tune of $200. (Very unnecessary!) So when I saw a pair of Nike Frees, in my size, in the men's section, in reasonable condition, for $15... I grabbed them!

Do I like Nike as a brand? Noooo.

Do I like zero stability, minimal cushioning, minimal heel to toe drop and a wide toe-box for far less than $200? Yessss!

And with that, I think I have a new goal for 2023:

Buy no more flipping shoes!!! 😁🙌🤣

{All photos by me. All screenshots are of data within the Garmin Connect app.}