What now? Post race weirdness

I never ran before December 2011. In the midst of a 40+ pound weight loss journey, I thought I would give it a try. I started slow and gradually worked my way up to running for 30 minutes straight. Did my first 5k ever and averaged about a 12 minute mile. Some friends convinced me to set my sights on longer distances. I joined a running group, figured out which pace group worked for me and set my sights on a half marathon.

Well, I accomplished that and just after that feeling of victory and elation I was left with.... well, what now? It is not that I am even contemplating giving up running but I feel weird not having that goal in front of me to work toward and accomplish. And before you say "Well, duh... pick another race!" I have already done that. I will be running the Disney Marathon weekend half in January.

Now I have to choose some wise goals that are slightly less obvious than just distance goals which, in retrospect, were the only real goals I had before. To that end, I have purchased a couple of books to help me figure out WHICH goals to set and how to get there. The first is the FIRST book. (Furman Institute of Running and Scientific Training) aka Runners World Run Less, Run Faster. My friend has been using this book and I like that it gives you a specific cross training plan and it tells you the pace you should be aiming for in each run. So, I have set up a plan based on their advice for my training leading up to the Disney run.

A second goal is to strengthen the backs of my legs. I have always had strong, developed quads and the more I look into it, the more I realize that is a common trait of young women. I don't qualify as a "young" woman anymore but this has always been true of my legs so I am interested in how I can develop those muscles and have some specific ideas for how to go about doing so. I have discovered that youtube is a great resource for this kind of thing.

For example, one draw back to relative weakness in the hamstrings and glutes is IT Band issues. The Gluteus Medius muscle is responsible for stability in the hips and if your quads are WAY stronger, then some pulling on the IT band can happen and the knee starts to suffer. One way to strengthen the gluteus medius is the clamshell but often the quads will try to help. Cycling Physio explains how to isolate the Gluteus Medius.

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/jv47LnS4eVo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

So - stuff like this is the direction I am going these days.  :)