Tuesday's Training Update: Gearing Up for Marathon Training

Last week I just did whatever, but this week marks the beginning of my marathon training! And what does that mean exactly? Good question. There are tons of marathon training schedules out there. Now which one, if any, are right for me? Honestly, I'm still a newbie when it comes to marathons, so I don't have it all figured out. I have done a fair amount of research though. I hope you're not bored to tears yet, because I'm about to give you a data dump.

First, let me just say, my marathon training plan is a melting pot of other schedules. I've looked through a number of training plans including the FIRST marathon training schedule, Hal Higdon's schedule, and Jeff Galloway's plan. Each has pluses and minuses. FIRST concentrates on getting faster only running three days a week, which is right up my alley. Galloway focuses on completing the distance without getting injured. Also something that greatly interests me.

I've cobbled together a Katie custom plan from the various schedules, my own constraints, and a few other marathon tips. Now I've already admitted that I'm a marathon newbie, but I've been running for a long time and I generally know what works for me. I also know what will break me. So before I go through my schedule, I'll give you some of my constraints and general training philosophy:

1. I must stay healthy and injury free. I've promised Nick we'll go back to Japan someday and I can't be hobbled. Being broken is a deal breaker. Also, Kaylee demands that I can play tag with her, so there you go.
   
2. Limit actual run days to three or four a week. (Keeping with the whole injury free thing.) For me, running more than four days a week is a recipe for disaster, and generally unnecessary.
   
3. Training must be fun. If I'm not having fun, then it's not really worth the hassle. Nick concurs, especially when considering that some of the training requires me to go off and run for hours at a time (without him or Kaylee).
4. Respect core training. Push ups and crunches need to be done regularly (3 - 5 days a week).
5. Stretch. When running in college, I thought stretching was optional. I was wrong. Let's just say I've learned my lesson.
6. The foam roller is my friend, and will be utilized everyday.
   
7. Continue my leg strengthening exercises, which is vital in keeping my IT band happy.
   
8. Get enough sleep. Sleeping is just as important as the training. Without proper rest, it's only a matter of time before I get sick or injured.
9. Remain flexible. I fully expect that some weeks I'll be tired, and will need to alter the plan.
10. Complete three runs over 20 miles spread over the 10 weeks prior to the marathon.
    
11. Run the long runs slow. I've seen suggestions anywhere from 30 seconds to 2 minutes slower than race pace. For the half marathon, my fastest long run was about 1 minutes slower than race pace and my slowest was about 2 minutes slower. The half went well, so I'll just stick with that.
12. I'm not planning to run a long run every week. Every other week is better for me.
    
13. Do a tempo run every week, paces from the McMillan calculator. This is an awesome training aid! You punch in what you want to run, and it spits out what pace you should be running for tempo runs, intervals, long runs, recovery days, and what you should be able to run for other distances.
14. Start tapering 3 weeks prior to the marathon.
    

That was riveting right? Not so much? Well, I've got more! A general training week for me will be something like:

Monday: 5K hard row
Tuesday: easy run (4-7 miles)
Wednesday: tempo run (4-10 miles)
Thursday: 60 minutes easy on the stationary bike
Friday: 3 - 6 X 1600 meter row intervals
Saturday: Off
Sunday: long run (14 - 22 miles)

The most important days in the training schedule are the running days. If I'm feeling tired or run down, I'll first skip the row workouts and the bike. The only training day that isn't flexible is the long run. It would have to be a bad week to skip a long run. That's my plan. What do you think? Crazy?

Here's where I share last week's training:
Monday: 5K row 6:25 pace
Tuesday: Off
Wednesday: 4 miles at 7:14 pace
Thursday: 60 minute bike
Friday: 70 minute bike
Saturday: 10 miles at 9:09 pace
Sunday: Off