Marathon Training: Week 1

This week was the first week of my 16 week marathon training in order to get ready for the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon on November 6th. In order to accomplish this goal, Chris and I have chosen to follow the marathon training plan that was in the July issue of Runner's World. It is a training goal designed to get you across the finish line in under 4 hours. 3:59:59 to be exact.

The plan calls for a total of 5 days running and 2 days of rest. We kind of mixed up the way it is put together to meet our schedules a little better. So far week 1 has went pretty well. It call for 3 days of easy runs. Which were 4 miles each at a 10 minute pace. The thing about this is that we run faster than that normally, so it was actually harder making myself slow down. I ran two of these days with Chris and one with Shawna and Tom, since I slept later than I thought I would and could not meet up with Chris.

The other two days consist of a 4 mile hill run and a 9 mile long run. For the hill run we hit Moser Knob with Shawna, Jen, and our surprise guest Garry. Hill work sucks, there is just no way to sugar coat it. They say it gets easier, but I will believe that when I see it. We ended up doing a little over 7 miles on hill day. I know it was farther than prescribed, but we are actually able to do the farther mileage since we are not new to the running game.

As far as long run day goes. I will be participating in the Red Eye Relay later today. The Red Eye is a 100 mile relay ran overnight. My total mileage for this is just over 19 miles. So I will far exceed my mileage for long run day. Chris on the other hand has the unfavorable task of putting in his long run solo, since everyone we run with is doing the Red Eye.

So that is how week one went. I will post a recap of the Red Eye, as long as I live to tell the tale.

Here is looking forward to week 2.

Later