"March"-ing on with my training

Let's see, since my last post on Thursday, UNC won their first and second round games in the NCAA tournament and have advanced to the Sweet 16. They have a tough weekend coming up with a game against USC and if they win, they would play the winner of Georgetown/Vanderbilt to see who goes to the Final 4. I can already feel myself getting hoarse for these games.

The swimming and cycling portions of my triathlon and eventual Ironman training continue to go very well. This morning I swam 800 meters at the pool without stopping (only my third time to swim), alternating again between breast stroke and freestyle for 32 laps and without pushing off on the wall. I had a couple of more really great workouts on the machine weights and stationary cycle over the weekend, and I've actually managed to put on a couple of pounds of muscle weight. This is a very good thing for me because when I don't run, I actually lose weight since my percentage of body fat is so low and muscle weighs more than fat (yes, people hate me for that).

As for when I will start back running, every now and then if I move slightly the wrong way or make a sudden movement or sharp change of direction, I'll get a small pain that reminds me of my left shin splint. My goal remains to be 100% healed before I run one single step, and with the cross-training I am now doing, my overall fitness level is not being jeopardized at all. Having said that, I probably will now wait a couple of more weeks past my original date of April 1 to start running again, and have targeted Monday, April 16 to do so. For the serious marathoners out there, you understand the signficance of this date, because it's the day of the Boston Marathon. Since my goal is to qualify for Boston again, I think it would be a big psychological boost to start on that day and I have no doubts that I'll be fully ready to resume my running by then.

In the meantime, the main Faithful Soles web site continues to blow me away with people who are becoming members and sponsors to help our PR10K (Promote Running for 10,000 Kids) program. Also, be sure to check out the main web site (just click on the Faithful Soles logo in the upper right of my blog home page) and read the "Story of the Week" and "Runner of the Week". I promise you that these 2 people will really inspire you in a major way.