On my own path

I've recently been chatting with many different runners and marathoners. Everyone has their suggestions on what program to follow, how to train, what shoes to get, what pace to take, what routes are best and what food to eat. It can be overwhelming to follow other peoples advice all the time. I know there are good nuggets of info mixed up in everyone's stories but it's confusing and frustrating to riffle through everything to find the best way to go. I know I'm slower than most and I'm taking full advantage of the fact that we have 2 months of "extra" training time since our race is not until September, but I did just have a baby 3 months ago and before that I experienced over 7 years of sedentary living. So it's taking me a while to find my own way of doing this but I feel like I'm maybe finally getting the hang of it.

I'm training every other day, and on my off days I'm doing some strength training. Nothing fancy, just squats and hand weights at home to help build the muscles that will have to carry me through 13 miles on race day. My pace is still slow and I'm mostly walking (as fast as I can) and running small intervals. I've been on a few different routes around my neighbourhood and I can't say I love any of them. It's either trashy houses, sketchy people, bird pooped underpasses, too much traffic or too many stop lights. So I spent some time on Google maps and found some routes to try that are more "runner friendly".

I've even stuck to tracking my calories on this awesome app every day for 5 days and I'm already down 4 pounds. I'm learning how to make what I put in my mouth count and I've even cooked up some great meals with lots of veggies, spices, lean meats and new flavors that were not too bad.

I'm glad I have so many friends and family who run and have good advice, but like most things, you need to find your own beat to go to and do what works best for you.