My Time Was What?????

I have been experiencing a disturbing trend in the races I have been running lately.  My race times have been considerably slower than the last time I ran the same race.  When this happened for the first few races I chalked it up to marathon training.  I was running a lot of long distances at a slower pace.

Now it's been over six months since I ran the marathon and my times are still slower.  I am now having to rethink my training.  My past race time was over two minutes slower than my time the previous year for the same race.  Now either last year was a fluke or I was really in shape last year.  I do have a sore calf and I could blame it on that but I don't think that is the reason.  

I think it's time to mix up the workouts and push myself more on my practice runs.  I need to cross train more and cut back on the desserts.  I have a real bad habit of rewarding myself after workouts with food.   That one will hurt the most.

I am obviously in a racing rut.  I do have a delicate balance here to make sure I don't make this calf injury worse.  Luckily I don't have any races officially scheduled until November.  Depending how I progress I hope to award myself with a surprise race.

So in summary:

1.  Cut back on the sweets.

2.  Don't use food/sweets as rewards for exercising

3.  Cross train a little more.

4.  Make sure you do speed workouts twice a week.

5.  Don't blow out your calf muscle.

I feel a big commitment to these goals as I am posting them for all to see.  That's what the Internet is for right?  So if you see me out and about and my portion sizes look a little too large or I am slacking too much at the gym.  Feel free to cast a  judgmental gaze toward my way.  I'll get the message.