Sunday, December 5, 2010

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!

3 comments:

  1. Woo Hoo! 16 weeks will fly by!

    Your training schedule looks awesome and very thought out!

    I'm not sure yet if I'm going to attempt another full marathon or not. My Dad is doing one in the next town over that they are having for the first time in May, but I'm nervous to do that one because it is REALLY hilly, and I don't want to do worse than I did at my first one. That's horrible isn't it?, LOL!

    Your goals sound very doable! Good luck with your training.

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  2. Looks like you're in great shape - let the marathon training begin!

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  3. Thanks, y'all! I love planning things, so I played with that plan for hours- kind of sad, right? We'll see how these early weeks go!

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