A Journey of a Thousand Miles Begins with the First Step...

Training has officially begun!!   To get my legs and feet prepared for such a long race, I have am increasing my outdoor workouts.  It is important to ramp up my endurance, but not so quickly that I sustain an injury or damage my joints. So this is my current schedule:

Mondays- Insanity 

Tuesday- Hilly hike (changes week to week)

Wednesday-Insanity 

Thursday-10 mile hike

Friday-Fit club workout (cardio)in pm, possible am workout depending on my schedule.

Saturday-Body Gospel fit club in am

Sunday -rest

First attempt of the season. Deep snow !

My training partner, Cynthia,(pictured here) and I just finished a round of P90X  so we are both starting with a good base of overall strength.  We just started the hikes 3 weeks ago when the snow was still everywhere, but it is just about gone now. Thank goodness!  I cannot tell you how much easier it is to hike the hills on soft dirt instead of crunching though deep snow and jagged ice patches.

It is funny, I am already feeling a difference in how my body is responding to the longer workouts.   The first time we did the 10 mile hike (lots of rolling hills), my hamstrings and quads were tighter than a drum for two and a half days! Owie!   The second week,we ran a lot more of the trail and  one hamstring was only really it for 24 hours. 

Week three- much less snow means more waterfalls

  This Thursday, I added a little more weight to my backpack ran the first section, which was all uphill, and I was only feeling tight for about an hour!   It is truly amazing how quickly the body responds to what we need it to do.  

Yesterday was fit club day and while it is always fun to workout with friends, I found that it was not enough, so my daughter and I  went for a nice hike around Fernald's Neck.   It is an outcropping of land surrounded  Megunticook Lake.  It was pretty darn soggy in spots and while this hills were fairly tame,  roots and rock abound!  It was great ankle work.  The real bonus to sneaking in an extra hike was sharing the experience with my eleven year old.  It was great to see her scrambling up the rocks and having so much fun.  I may have a new hiking buddy!