Week 1

The goal this week was just to reintroduce my body to running. I've gone on maybe one-two dozen runs over the last two years (and most of those came during the summer immediately following the end of my track career as I trained with my buddy, Sky Taylor, who was trying to get a spot on the UC Davis track team).

Needless to say, with that sporadic training regimen, my body isn't exactly primed to start laying down 30-plus mile weeks. Overall, I tried to toss in some cross-training and just get my feet some use -- plantar fasciatis was a huge problem for me during my running career so I want to be sure I don't derail my marathon hopes by overtraining out of the gate.

I'm also planning to avoid weightlifting during the next few months while focusing more on bodyweight resistance exercises (push ups, pull ups, dips, etc.). Because I've never been a huge fan of weights, I'm perfectly fine making this "sacrifice."

In all, I put in 8 miles of jogging and 8 miles on the stationary bike during the week. My goal over the next seven days is to up my mileage to 15. That's closer to what I was putting in as a quarter-miler for Cal Poly during summer training (only those miles were accumulated in shorter bursts at a significantly quicker pace).

Here's a rundown of the week's events:

Day 1: 2 miles on the track, no time / 40 push ups using dome yoga ball (4x10 with narrow grip, wide grip, medium grip and 10 with the dome side on the ground using a wide grip)

Day 2: 6 miles stationary bike

Day 3: 2 miles easy jog, 19:30 / 100 push ups (4x25)

Day 4: 1 hour of racquetball / 2 miles on stationary bike / 30 pull ups (3x10), 30 trunk lifts (2x15 with 35 lb. plate), 30 shoulder press (2x15 with 55 lb. bar), burnout chin ups: 15

Day 5: No running / 2 sets of tennis / 100 push ups in 4:00

Day 6: 2 miles easy jog, no time at 10:30 a.m. / 2 miles on the treadmill at 4:30 p.m. / 30 pull ups (2 sets, 18 & 12), 20 dips (2x10), 200 abs (50 crunches, 25 side crunches right & left, 50 windshield wipers w/ 12 lb. med ball, 50 knees-to-chest)

Day 7: Off

Day 8 (today): 4.6 miles, 35:19, heartrate of 132-138 bpm approx. 2 min after the run