I just completed day one of my new winter regimen of training on an elliptical in the basement.  The plan is to run – err train – on the elliptical after work each day from 5 to 6.  PM – Karen trains on it in the AM.  We’ve owned this equipment for years but I’ve never adapted it into my workouts until now.

I hauled it into my office the other day so I can watch TV.  If I can’t look up at the snow laden peaks of the Front Range, I want to view the evening News.  As much as I’d rather train outdoors, I need to accept reality.  A week shy of winter solstice, there isn’t enough daylight.  The last time I tried training through the winter for a February marathon, my race results were a disaster.  I elected to run during lunch, but of course could only squeeze in about 3 miles given the time crunch.  I can tell you now that 3 miles per day is not a very smart training program for a marathon.  I don’t know that training on an elliptical is much better, but at least I will be able to put in the hours.  The obvious downside is the lack of high-impact, but maybe that will be a plus in terms of keeping my legs healthy.

I’ll still run for reals on the weekend.  And I’ll focus on ultra long runs.  Not the next two weekends though as I’ll be driving to Austin and back for the holidays.  The marathon is the same one I ran in 2011 – the Austin Marathon – and is on February 16th.  I already have my ticket to fly down the day after Valentines.  That gives me a good 7 weeks of elliptical training.  This will be interesting.