Spring Planning

Okay, on to a different topic. I have really backed off from running the past couple of months. At least the lower back pain is gone. I was in Florida a couple of weeks ago, and had a nice ten-mile run one day, and a horrible 3.5 mile run the next. What I am trying to do now is develop a sound training plan. I need to start getting the mileage back up, but also incorporate speed work. I also have to concentrate on core strength, the likely culprit causing the two+ months of back pain. Having a plan will make it much easier to be motivated to get up early in the mornings again. It will also help me to get back to a better weight for running. To those who say I was too thin over the summer, I'll say I have gained ten pounds since August. That isn't a good thing, as the weight is merely in the form of padding… Once I get back into a regimen, I'm sure things will change. Since each pound of "extra" weight can equal a minute added to a marathon, and given I'm considering a training plan to get down to 3:20, there is easy time to be shed.
As I mentioned before, I'd like to run the Country Music Marathon at the end of April. I think running the Illinois Marathon in early April is too aggressive, and likely will instead run the Sam Costa Half Marathon at the end of March. I'll be more prepared to decide once I'm back on track. For over a year, any time I went running, it was always for at least 40-45 minutes. Any less and it wasn't worth getting sweaty. Now I have to be cautious about ramping up the time and distance, as every injury seems to come down to adding too much, too fast. I'm going to start with my training plan from Dec 2007, and build from there. At least I'm not starting at zero.