One Third Complete

Week 6 of training has just concluded and along with it's conclusion came the realization that I'm a third of the way into training.

Whoa.

It seems like these last 6 weeks have gone by so fast!  It's hard to believe that in the last 6 weeks I've put in 104 training miles.  ONE HUNDRED AND FOUR.  And I've never skipped a training run- even over the 4th of July holiday that was a part of our 11 day vacation.

Thoughts thus far:
1. I can't believe I've run 104 miles.
2. I'm feeling really good about my training thus far.
3. It's not going to get easier- in fact, it's going to get harder.
4. I know that I CAN stick with the training and I WILL complete my goal.
5. I've got 330 training miles left on the calendar.
6. I've made it to the point of averaging 20 ish miles per week- that means I'm halfway to the training peak of Week 15 when I'll run 40 miles in a week.
7. I'm feeling awesome- I haven't had any major aches or pains.
8. I can see and feel the change in my legs from all of my training- hello good-looking calf muscles!

I want to try to do a better job of blogging my journey through this training- but I'll be honest and say that as the training miles increase, my blogging time might get eaten up by training time.  Ideally I would like to do the following from here on out:

• At the end of one week/beginning of the next post with an update about my thoughts thus far on training
• Keep posting on any gear/products I'm using or want to try
• Seek out other runners and invite them to share their insights here on my blog
• Keep on keepin' it real- training isn't easy.

Thanks for reading a being a part of my journey to 26.2 so far!

Perspective

It’s amazing how much perspective a long run over the weekend can give you for the shorter training runs during the week.

I ran 10 miles on Sunday (we were out of town on Saturday, so I had to flip-flop my Saturday/Sunday workouts) and it felt amazing- until I stopped.  My legs felt like they were going to fall off.  I felt awesome the whole time I was running- I really liked the route I took and the weather was great.  But let me tell you- after running an hour and 45 minutes with no walking breaks (and I’ll tell you right now that I’m all for walking breaks if you feel the need- I was just on a roll on Saturday so I kept pushing through), the feeling I had when I stopped was AWFUL.  Who would have thought that continuing to run would be less painful than stopping?!  Anyway, I immediately went inside the house and leashed Colby, our crazy puppy, and took him along for a cool-down walk.  I knew that it would be better to give my legs some time to cool down on a walk rather than collapsing in a heap at home.  Colby and I always take the same route on our walks, and I won’t lie and say that the 1.5 mile route felt good to walk after the long run, but it made my legs feel slightly better.  And Colby appreciated it, even if he had to drag aching body the whole way.

Monday was a rest day (thank goodness!) and it gave my body some time to recover.  My knees had been feeling achy after the long run, so I was a little worried that my 3 mile run today might just make it worse.  But I also thought that after the long weekend run, 3 miles sounded like a breeze!

I got up this morning, laced up my shoes and hit the pavement.

Wow.  I felt AMAZING.  My knees felt good and my legs were hungry for more running.  I pretty much always stick to a 10 minute per mile pace no matter how far I’m running- that’s just what my body seems most comfortable with.  Not this morning.  This morning my body said, “Ha! 3 miles? That’s all you’re going to give me today?  Well in that case...” And I ramped up my pace right from the start.  I didn’t consciously do this, I just listened to my body and my legs responded accordingly.

I’ll keep it real here- I felt like I was losing a little bit of my steam during my last mile, but by that time the end was (symbolically speaking) in sight and I was still feeling great.  I rarely check my pace while in the midst of a run, so I was excited to see how I ended up since it had felt so phenomenal.

26 minutes.  8 and a half minute miles.  FOUR MINUTES FASTER THAN MY USUAL PACE.

Whoa.

Training Program

I've decided to follow the novice marathon training program laid out by Runner's World magazine contributing editor, Hal Higdon.  I found this training program a couple of years ago when my interest in running a marathon first peaked and I bought Hal Higdon's book, "Marathon: The Ultimate Training Guide".

I'll admit that I've only read sections of the book and I haven't read it cover to cover, but what I have read I've really enjoyed.  Here's the training program I am following- directly from Higdon's book and also published on his website:

Week	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thur	Fri	Sat	Sun
1	rest	3 m run	3 m run	3 m run	rest	6	cross
2	rest	3 m run	3 m run	3 m run	rest	7	cross
3	rest	3 m run	4 m run	3 m run	rest	5	cross
4	rest	3 m run	4 m run	3 m run	rest	9	cross
5	rest	3 m run	5 m run	3 m run	rest	10	cross
6	rest	3 m run	5 m run	3 m run	rest	7	cross
7	rest	3 m run	6 m run	3 m run	rest	12	cross
8	rest	3 m run	6 m run	3 m run	rest	13	cross
9	rest	3 m run	7 m run	4 m run	rest	10	cross
10	rest	3 m run	7 m run	4 m run	rest	15	cross
11	rest	4 m run	8 m run	4 m run	rest	16	cross
12	rest	4 m run	8 m run	5 m run	rest	12	cross
13	rest	4 m run	9 m run	5 m run	rest	18	cross
14	rest	5 m run	9 m run	5 m run	rest	14	cross
15	rest	5 m run	10 m run	5 m run	rest	20	cross
16	rest	5 m run	8 m run	4 m run	rest	12	cross
17	rest	4 m run	6 m run	3 m run	rest	8	cross
18	rest	3 m run	4 m run	2 m run	rest	rest	race

So today was the first 3 mile run of week 2 and it went great!  I got up this morning and got it in before it got too hot outside.  It felt amazing to have that accomplished by 7 am.

I like this training program because it's not too intimidating- the first 2 weeks just have 3 mile runs plus one long run on Saturday, so that's not too bad, and it just gradually moves up from there.  It's hard to believe that week 1 has already gone by- but kicking of that first week of training with Strides For Life was the perfect boost!

Are you following a training program? Which one and why?