Training plan - Week 1

I'll be posting Biz's weekly workout plan on the blog here each week.

Here's the plan for this week:
Monday - off/rest
Tuesday - 3 miles (40 minutes)
Wednesday - 3 miles (40 minutes)
Thursday - 3 miles (40 minutes)
Friday - off/rest
Saturday - 5 miles (65 minutes)
Sunday - cross train (~60 minutes)

Here's a description of how this week should unfold:

Monday: Monday is always a day of rest (you can count on it). Rest is important for recovery after the weekend's workouts, particularly as the long runs progress from 6 to 20 miles. Your body needs time to recover. So take the day off.

Tuesday: An easy day. Run 3 miles (or 40 miunutes) at a comfortable pace. Over the next 18 weeks, you will add only a few miles to your Tuesday workouts. In a few weeks you'll move up to 4 miles. In week 14, you'll be up to 5 miles. By that time, you'll be so used to doing much longer runs on Wednesdays and Saturdays, that a run of that distance will seem easy. It's all part of the progressive buildup of total mileage designed to get you ready to run 26 miles. If even running 3 miles seems a strain for you, don't hesitate to mix in a walking break.

Wednesday: Three miles, same as yesterday. As the countdown continues, you will begin to run more miles midweek. Every second week, you will add another mile to your Wednesday workout. This midweek workout is what I call a "sorta long" run. What you will find most difficult as the mileage progresses from 3 to 10 is not going the distance, but finding time to squeeze a run taking more than an hour into a busy weekday. Just do it!

Thursday: Run the same distance that you did on Tuesday: 3 miles at a comfortable pace. Again, remember the walking-break option I mentioned for Tuesday. At 3 miles, you may want to run the full distance. But as the distance builds, and particularly on days when the weather is warm, you will appreciate a short break, particularly to stop for water. A lot of novice runners will do some walking in the marathon--if only through the aid stations--you want to practice this as part of your strategy.

Friday: Friday is also always a day of rest, to allow you to gather strength for the weekend. I know you won't hesitate to do exactly what I tell you. So take today off :)

Saturday: Today is your "long run." Even for a novice or beginning runner, 5 miles (today's workout) may not seem that long. But over the next 18 weeks, the distance for your Saturday run will increase to 20 miles. Don't worry too much about pace now; just run easily. If you want to do your long runs on Sunday rather than Saturday, simply flip-flop the two workouts, but the long run is the most important part of your training schedule. Avoid missing them at all costs. Wait, let me restate that...DON'T MISS THEM! :)

Sunday: Use this second day of the weekend to recover from your weekly long run by doing some easy cross-training. What kind of cross-training you ask? The exercise should be aerobic: an hour or so of walking, biking, swimming or some such activity. Swimming is a especially useful, because you can use it to loosen your muscles. If you run long Sundays, you can cross-train on Saturdays.

I've posted late (Tuesday night) so don't worry about the Monday and Tuesday workouts I have written in, just pick up with Wednesday

Follow the plan, and you're on your way to 26.2, Sista!

~ Bro-Bro (aka- Joel)