The Plan

Tomorrow marks 16 weeks out from the National Marathon, so I had better get started on a plan.  Last time I trained, I set monthly mileage goals and long run goals.  I was definitely prepared, but I often had way too many miles left until the last week of any given month. I also relied a lot on my elliptical instead of on actual running. This time I'm being a little more rigid in my plans.  As a teacher, I know my schedule pretty well by this point in the year.  I have meetings after school on Wednesdays so that's a rest day.  I tutor before school and during lunch, and I try to get things graded during my planning period.  I know that Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday I can run before the rest of my family gets home, so it's a guilt-free run.  Lest time around, I felt like most of my running was the long runs, so this time I want to have a lot of chances to run at an easy pace for not too long.  That will make the long runs easier, too, since I'll be better prepared.  At least once while training for Baltimore, my only run for the week was my long run.  Oops...

So here's the plan: Mondays are easy, Tuesdays are intervals.  Thursdays are tempo, and Saturday or Sunday is long.  On weeks where Saturday is long, Sunday will be a recovery run (hopefully with dogs!).  On weeks with a Sunday long run, I'll go for an easy run Friday afternoon.

There will be weeks when I don't make all of my workouts; I know that.  There will be weeks when I have to do a workout or two on the elliptical instead of running.  But with this framework, even if I only make 80% I'll have a better base than last time.

Spring Marathon Training Plan

Week	Mon.	Tues.	Wed.	Thurs.	Fri.	Sat.	Sun.	Mileage
Week #1	3 miles	Band Concert	rest	3-5 mile tempo	rest	12 miles	4 miles easy	22-24
Week #2	3 miles	3-5 miles w/intervals	rest	3-5 mile tempo	rest	12 miles	4 miles easy	25-29
Week #3	4 miles	3-5 miles w/intervals	rest	DC 4 miles	DC 4 miles	DC	DC 4 miles	19-21
Week #4	DC 4 miles	3-5 miles w/intervals	rest	3-5 mile tempo	rest	Resolution Run 5k	10 miles	23.1-27.1
Week #5	3 miles	3-5 miles w/intervals	rest	3-5 mile tempo	3 miles	CDBA Auditions	16 miles	28-32
Week #6	3 miles	3-5 miles w/intervals	rest	3-5 mile tempo	3 miles	WRO Auditions	14 miles	26-30
Week #7	3 miles	3-5 miles w/intervals	rest	3-5 mile tempo	rest	18 miles	4 miles easy	31-35
Week #8	3 miles	3-5 miles w/intervals	rest	4-6 mile tempo	3 miles	rest	18 miles	31-35
Week #9	3 miles	3-5 miles w/intervals	rest	4-6 mile tempo	3 miles	CDBA	CDBA	13-17
Week #10	3 miles	3-5 miles w/intervals	rest	4-6 mile tempo	rest	20 miles	4 miles easy	34-38
Week #11	3 miles	3-5 miles w/intervals	rest	4-6 mile tempo	rest	14 miles	4 miles easy	28-32
Week #12	3 miles	3-5 miles w/intervals	rest	4-6 mile tempo	rest	22 miles	4 miles easy	36-40
Week #13	3 miles	3-5 miles w/intervals	rest	4-6 mile tempo	WRO Clinic	WRO Clinic (18 miles)	WRO Clinic (18 miles)	28-32
Week #14	3 miles	3-5 miles w/intervals	rest	4-6 mile tempo	3 miles	All-State Audition	14 miles	27-31
Week #15	3 miles	3-5 miles w/intervals	rest	4-6 mile tempo	rest	10 miles	4 miles easy	24-28
Week #16	3 miles	3-5 miles	rest	2-3 miles	rest	3/26/2011 Marathon!

If my goal is to qualify for Boston (3:40), I have to run at or below 8:23 in the race.  I'm going to aim for BQ through January and reassess in February.  With that in mind, my goal pace is 8:15-8:20.  I'll run that pace for easy runs and slightly faster (8:00) for tempo runs.  My long runs have historically ranged between 8:50-9:15, and I don't think I'll change that for the long long runs.  As for runs 14 miles and under, I'll aim for 8:30-8:45 but won't kill myself trying.

So that's the plan, all shiny and optimistic.  In sixteen weeks (God willing) I will run a marathon feeling a bit more prepared than I did last time.  I ran 6 miles on the snowy Greenway today and it felt great and easy.  My first mile was 8:40 and my last one was 7:30.  Let's get started!