Sticking To The Plan

I'm not sure if I had mentioned in past posts but I have been looking at a couple of marathon training plans and with the fresh reading of Hanson's Marathon Method and the past programs in my files I have come up with a new, fresh approach to my next 26.2. The main difference with this plan is the usage of "speed" workouts in the early phase and switching to "strength" style workouts the last 6 weeks. The entire 12 weeks I will do one marathon pace effort and slowly build the mileage up to a respectable 10-12 miles. The other days of the week vary a bit in pace but really a lot of aerobic miles are run and for me really keeping tabs on my body and maintaining my recovery days like they should be.

The last two weeks have gone great with the small exception of two days I was feeling a bit ill I had to scale way back which hopefully will NOT come into play come April 15th. My long runs are going well and I have to be patient and not to over-do them too early. That's the hardest thing for me when marathon training. Patience. Each week should allow me to get stronger and I need to trust the system. I will work.

This past weekend, (yesterday), I managed to run a half-marathon at marathon pace effort and I was very proud I stuck to the plan. It would have been super easy to pound out and chase a few runners in front of me but I didn't. I kept a solid pace and despite the cold temps slowing me some I feel like I am well on my way to having a solid performance in 11 weeks. We were talking after the race and trying to dig up some articles as to how much cold temps, it was 5F with slight wind the entire race, effect ones performance. I am sure it is a fair amount, much like extreme heat.

Anyway, here are my last two weeks. I hope to recover quickly after yesterday's effort since it was a bit long this early in the program but I managed not to get too sore as I ran a solid, slow recovery run in Hartley today with minimal soreness. Keep it up people! Spring is right around the corner.

Jan 14-20th
M: 50:00 6.5 easy treadmill plus weights X 2
T: 1:06:00 8.5 miles roads/trails
W: 1:01:00 8.5 mi.  8 X 400 meter @5:20 pace (sick :()
Th: 0 illin
F: 1:03:00 9 mile w/1 at 5:55 to test
Sa: 2:01:00 15.6 miles snowy!
Su: 55:00 7.1 miles tread, easy

Total: 55.2 miles

Jan21-27th
M: 50:00 6+ mi. easy trails (-17F, -40F wind)
T: 1:09:00 10 mi. 6 X 800 meter @5:20 pace
W: 1:00:00 7 mi. Hartley
Th: 40:00 5.3 mi. plus weights
F: 55:00 7 mi. roads/Woodland
Sa: *MP effort 13.2 miles (14 mi total) 1:20:00/6:09 pace ave.
Su: 1:07:10 7.6 mi. Hartley

Total: 57 miles

Years Total: 220.8 miles