Training Plan - Week 6

Monday: rest
Tuesday: 3 mile run
Wednseday: 5 mile run
Thursday: 3 mile run
Friday: rest
Saturday: 7 mile run
Sunday: cross-train (~60 min.)

Monday: This is another week of comparative "rest," since the weekend mileage drops as part of our second "stepback." Total miles this week are 18 with a 7-mile run on the weekend. No running today. Consider the fact that your marathon training program will be one-third complete at the end of this week.

Tuesday: Three miles at your normal pace. What is "normal?" You be the judge. Remember: Tuesdays and Thursdays are good days to include some extra stretching in your workout to loosen your muscles. Ten minutes or so will do. But don't stretch too hard. Stretching should never feel painful, otherwise you risk damaging the muscles you're trying to protect.

Wednesday: Despite this being a stepback week, your midweek workouts continue their distance progression. Run 5 miles today, the same as last week, but next week you go 6. How do you feel after the first six weeks of your marathon buildup? The answer to that question will partly dictate how hard you run today.

Thursday: Three miles at an easy pace, then do some strength training. Learn to breathe right when you do your lifts. The worst mistake you can make while lifting is to hold your breath. That simply tightens the muscles that you want to keep loose. Inhale while you prepare to lift the weight, then exhale while lifting it, inhaling again while lowering it.

Friday: Rest is always an important component of any training program. Sometimes rest is important for the mind as much as for the body. Although I love running and find that my day is not complete without a run or some sort of aerobic workout, I realize that not everybody feels the same way--yet! So Friday is the day when you don't have to think about what course you're going to run or how to fit your workout into a busy schedule. You can even skip taking a shower, but if you brush your teeth, don't forget to floss. Relax. Take a day off.

Saturday: Run 7 miles. In a logical arithmetic progression you would have done "11" miles today. But since it's a rest week, you're only doing 7.

Sunday: Do some easy cross-training: 30 to 60 minutes of an aerobic activity. You want to exercise the body. Some cycling would be fine--as long as it's at an easy pace. Walking would do you good too. If you're combining a number of cross-training exercises, for example: cycling, swimming and strength training at a the gym, some easy jogging also might be appropriate.

Keep your blog posts coming....
These are a vital part of your training program. Writing down your workouts will help you chart your progress and how you feel. For each day, include how far you went (miles), how long it took, and how you felt. If you want, yo ucan indlude any other pertinent information (like, "I didn't get a lot of sleep last night" or "I'm really tired in general lately")

I'm still here

So I haven't taken time to BLOG lately but I do have good news to report. I have done all of the workouts as posted except on night I had to cut one night down due to shear exhaustion and lateness of the day.

I am also struggling with the cross training on Sundays, but I am making it through the long runs with bananas and gatorade.

Training Plan - Week 5

Monday: rest
Tuesday: 3 mile run
Wednseday: 5 mile run
Thursday: 3 mile run
Friday: rest
Saturday: 10 mile run
Sunday: cross-train (~60 min.)

Monday: A day of rest. As marathon day draws near, you will need this rest day more and more.

Tuesday: Run easy: 3 miles today at your usual comfortable pace. Don't be embarrassed to walk, even for this short a distance. There's nothing wrong with walking in marathons, particularly when taking a drink. Maybe not this early in the program, but as the mileage builds the stress levels build too. Short walk breaks can help you avoid injury as well. Don't take any chances. Make no quick moves, only slow and steady ones. Slow and steady guarantees a medal being hung around your neck after you exit the finishing chute.

Wednesday: Five miles, a jump of a mile from last week and the week before. Don't worry about the pace. Just cover the distance. This is the "tough" workout day in the middle of the week. But does this run of 5.0 miles still seem hard to you? Hopefully you're starting to get in shape so that running for 45-60 minutes is no longer quite the struggle it once seemed. You should feel confident. You're a Certified Marathoner--or will be in another 14 weeks. If people pass you on the road, greet them a wave, a smile, a hearty "hello!" Say to yourself, "I'm a marathoner!"

Thursday: Three miles today, the same as Tuesday. While shoes are the most important item of equipment a runner can own, comfortable clothing also is a must. If it's cold when you run, particularly in the early morning, you will want to layer on levels of clothing as the best approach to coping with varying temperature levels. And while you want to stay warm, the worst sin is to overdress so that you finish soaked with sweat. More a problem is coping with heat, since there is only so much clothing you can shed without getting arrested. Keep experimenting with different clothing variations. Wicking fabrics work better than cotton T-shirts You'll figure it out.

Friday: Today being a rest day, maybe this is a day to head to Running Fit to get some new shoes and gear. Good running gear will last for years, so even though it may seem expensive, think of it as an investment you'll get returns from for years to come.

Saturday: Run 10 miles. Your first single workout in double digits, thus somewhat of a milestone. Fourteen weeks from now in the marathon, you should be able to cruise past the 10-mile marker. "Ho hum. This is me the marathoner, floating on home to 26 miles 385 yards!" Ten miles is the peak run in the second 3-week segment of your training. Next week is another "stepback" week.

Sunday: Cross-training. An hour of aerobic training. You should exercise the body after your 10-mile peak run yesterday--but not too much. If you decide to flip-flop workouts and cross-train Saturday and run long Sunday, you won't want to overdo it on this day. An hour of cycling would be fine--as long as it's at an easy pace. An hour of walking would do you good too.

Training Plan - Week 4

Monday: rest
Tuesday: 3 mile run
Wednseday: 4 mile run
Thursday: 3 mile run
Friday: rest
Saturday: 9 mile run
Sunday: cross-train (~60 min.)


Monday: This is your fourth week of marathon training, and you begin it with a day of rest. This is actually the first week of your second 3-week cycle, after the stepback Week 3 during which you cut mileage somewhat. This week your total running mileage will be 19 miles, the long run on the weekend 9 miles. In Week 15 (peak week before tapering begins), you will run 40 miles for the week, 20 on the weekend. That means in the next 11 weeks you will double your mileage. It's doable. A lot of people before you have been there, done that. I have no doubt you can do it.

Tuesday: An easy day: Three miles at a comfortable pace. There are several ways to judge "comfortable." If you are running with a partner, the two of you should be able to converse without getting significantly out of breath. Or, if you're running alone, you could even talk to yourself--although people will think you're crazy. Particularly after a day's rest on Monday, you should finish this workout feeling better than when you started.

Wednesday: Four miles. A mile further than yesterday and tomorrow. The same distance you ran last Wednesday. If you're feeling good--and we hope you are after the stepback week--push the pace a bit today. Maybe for a mile or so toward the end of your run, increase your pace by about 15-30 seconds a mile. You still can converse, but you become more out-of-breath. If you examine the schedule you'll notice that Wednesday mileage remains the same for two weeks, then goes up a mile. As we continue, I will probably ask each second time you run the distance (odd-numbered weeks) to increase the pace a bit. If your answer is, "No, I don't want to," that's okay. I'm the coach, but you're the boss.

Thursday: Repeat Tuesday's workout. Three miles, comfortable pace. I forgot to remind you on Tuesday that you might want to do some stretching after you run. And if you're doing strength training, today is a good day to do it. Don't do too much of either. Moderation is the secret to success, both in running and in everything associated with running.

Friday: Friday, like Monday, is another day when the workout never changes. It's "rest." Take the day off. How can doing no running be considered a workout. I count it as such, because your day of rest is designed with a purpose. It's to get you ready for your weekend workouts, which generally are harder than weekday workouts.

Saturday: Run long. Nine miles today. We're back into the mileage progression. The pace should remain comfortable, similar to the early miles of the marathon. Don't be afraid to walk occasionally to break the pace. (You may need to do so in the marathon.) Start teaching yourself to drink fluids before, during and after your runs. At the end of your 9-miler, listen to your body. How did it feel? Legs tired? Out of breath? Some fatigue is normal, but you don't want to finish exhausted, otherwise you are training too hard.

Sunday: A cross-training day. If you experience some fatigue after yesterday's 9-miler, that's natural. Use today's workout to relax and loosen your muscles.

Let's see some posts this week to keep everyone up to date on how things are going! :)

Training Plan - Week 3

Monday: rest
Tuesday: 3 mile run
Wednseday: 4 mile run
Thursday: 3 mile run
Friday: rest
Saturday: 5 mile run
Sunday: cross-train

Monday: Today being Monday, it's your rest day after two days of hard work over the weekend. This is an "easy" week in the training program, since you will "only" run 5 miles for your long run, instead of 8 (which would be the progression after 5 and 6.5). You will encounter these "stepback" weeks every third week at the beginning of the program, every other week as we near peak mileage. Most training programs are progressive, meaning you gradually increase mileage over a period of weeks and months. This program is no different, but the progression is not in a straight line, which is one of its unique features.

Tuesday: Run 3 miles at your normal pace. You might also spend another 15-30 minutes doing some stretching and strength training.

Wednesday: Today is a 4-mile run, up from 3 the first two weeks. Your mileage on this midweek "hard" day will continue to build along with your weekend mileage. This is called a "sorta long" run. This sorta long run is positioned in the middle of the week to be more or less equal distant from the weekend long runs. That gives you a chance to recuperate between and rest before.

Thursday: Run 3 miles. This should almost begin to seem like a short distance now. If you bought into my idea Tuesday of doing 15-30 minutes of stretching and strength training after your run, today do the same.

Friday: Your day of rest. As this 18-week program continues, you will continue to rest two days each week, bracketing the weekend of harder training. If the schedule of Monday/Friday rest doesn't always fit your schedule, feel free to adjust the days. Review what you have accomplished so far. Does running seem any easier? Hopefully any sore muscles you may have suffered after your first-week workouts have begun to feel better--and stronger. It may be difficult for you to sense any change from the way you feel today and the way you felt before you began this program, but you gradually will get into marathon shape.

Saturday: Run 5 miles. As mentioned above, we drop back in distance every third week on our long runs to offer you extra rest. Keep an invisible "8" in your mind, since we jump ahead to 9 miles next week. Remember that the long runs--like most runs during the week--should be done at a conversational pace. You may run out of conversation by the last few miles, but not today since you stop early.

Sunday: Cross-training for an hour. Aerobic exercises work best: walking, cycling, swimming. Snowshoeing or cross-country skiing are also great. Since your run yesterday was short, you might even consider doing some jogging as part of your workout. You now have completed three weeks of the 18-week marathon program. You are one-sixth of the way toward completion. Having finished the first stepback week, we're now ready to crank the mileage up in Week 4. Hold onto your hat!