1. Follow one of the Higdon plans. I’m going with Intermediate 1.
2. Get on trail more. It’s better for my mind and knees. Probably is good strength training, at least for my glutes. Logistics are oddly simpler. It’s much easier to pee when you need to.
3. Every couple weeks, log some serious miles on pavement with running club friends.
4. Get in as much yoga as I can, meaning about 1 class per week plus at least 5-10 minutes of asana and/or meditating by candlelight each night.
5. Strength training = that one (vinyasa) yoga class and/or climbing with friends at the gym and/or 10 minutes of core work after a couple of my runs each week.
6. Every now and then I experience an evening in which my running/training and other (social/work/?) plans smash into each other. The solution that has worked a few times already: go home to cook a dinner with my husband.

So, I’m going about my preparation for Grandma’s, my second marathon, a little differently than I did for my first marathon, last summer and fall. The new job and commute have thrown a few new surprising … decision factors into each week. Mostly it’s the longer commute, which shortens my mornings and evenings and eliminates the option of a noon run. However, the newness of everything related to my workday has perhaps changed my attitude a bit. I feel slightly less available on the personal front, and far more conservative with my free time schedule, as I don’t get to see Steve as much as when we worked together.

Time’s precious.

Nice reminder, eh? I don’t think I’ll ever advocate for a longer driving commute, but perhaps it’s helping me make some healthy time management decisions that I never had to make when I had a 5-minute commute.