Marathon Training has started!! Woohoo!!

Officially, my marathon training started yesterday but since Mondays are cross-training days, I did 60 minutes elliptical and 15 minutes weights. This morning was my first official training run for the 2009 racing season (well, my 2009 racing season). I was only supposed to do 3 miles but since 5 is my norm, I did 5. I plan on continuing with my usual 5 miles during my weekday runs even though that’s not following my training plan. I just don’t like doing runs shorter than 5 miles unless I’m feeling sick or doing speedwork…somehow I don’t feel like it’s worth it for me to get up so early to only run 3 miles. Weird, huh?

So basically, until I’m several months into the program, the only addition to my usual schedule will be the long weekend runs. This weekend starts with a 7 miler and the mileage increases as the weeks progress (obviously) but I’ve built in a few Saturdays/Sundays where I can choose to do a long run or I can give my body extra rest, depending on how I’m feeling. I also built in these long run off-weeks in case we take an out of town trip or the weather is crappy.

My 2009 Racing Season (first ever racing season!) looks like this:
April 26—GW Parkway 10 Miler
May 10—Pacers Running Festival Half Marathon
May 31—Annapolis Half Marathon
October 10—Baltimore Marathon (the big Kahuna!!!)

I might add some more races in there from June to October but since the heat/humidity is bad here during the summers, there aren’t that many races in this area during that time. I’ll see how I’m progressing on the marathon training…I may just focus on the full marathon after the Annapolis Half.

As far as my training plan, I pretty much made up my own. I used Hal Hidgon’s plan as a base and changed it for me. For instance, I wanted to add in the long run off weeks and add in other races in the middle of training for the full. So I essentially took his 18 week plan and made it a 28 week plan!! I modified some of the long runs to fit with the racing schedule above but kept the theme of every few weeks dropping my long run mileage. I’m excited for my first long run!! Now only if the weather would warm up a bit so it’s not 30 degrees when I’m running in the mornings.