Monday, July 14, 2014

The Plan


Marathon training officially kicked off for me this morning. Sure, I ran 8 miles yesterday. But today I met with Becky at the CF box to go over my training plan and begin my journey. So now, it's real.

This morning she had me jump right in with interval training. First I was on the rower. 100 meters, 200 meters, 300 meters, 200 meters, 100 meters--each interval as fast as possible. Rest in between. The rower gets my heart pumping like no other activity.



Then she had me do kettlebell swings x 60 seconds alternating with jump rope x 60 seconds, three rounds with 30 seconds rest in between. Sounds simple, right? I couldn't complete one interval without having to stop and catch my breath. At one point, I felt like I was going to vomit. It was raining outside and in between intervals, I stuck my head out the door. The cool rain felt good. This is going to be hard!

Running a marathon is hard. Runners know this, and so I do believe this challenging training is going to make me stronger and more confident. I have no doubt that physically, I am up for the challenge. It is my brain that I have to convince.



So here's the overview of my training plan:

-Running 4x/week, for the most part. Becky has me biking every 3rd week on long run Sundays. When I objected to this, she told me just to play along. She did relent and tell me that if I had to run on those days, I could do a few miles along with the bike, a brick-type workout.
-Sunday long runs continue. My longest run is 18 miles, 3 weeks before the marathon. There are quite a few 12 and 14 milers sprinkled in there. My highest mileage week is 3 weeks before the marathon--38 miles.
-Speed work! I've never done speed work before, officially, except for intervals on the treadmill during the winter. This speed work is once weekly 5 x 1 mile at :15-:30 secs faster than race pace, with recovery between each mile. Mid-August, these change to 3 x 2 miles. Yikes! I'm going to head over to my favorite retention pond, where there is a 2 mile loop. It should be easy for me to run these there.
-My Saturday "quickies" will continue to be just that--tempo-type 4-5 mile runs.
-Yoga every Wednesday (whew!)
-Crossfit intervals every other Monday (like what we did today)
-Crossfit every Thursday
-Taper 2 weeks before the marathon

Now that it's on paper, it doesn't seem so crazy, does it? The running looks fairly conventional, but now I have some CF sprinkled in. It feels good to have a plan, a custom plan at that!

I've got nothing to lose and everything to gain. So let's do it!





20 comments :

  1. Happy Monday, Wendy! I've nominated you for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award since I enjoy your posts so much! See details on my blog at: http://matmilesmedals.com/whoareyouinspiring/#more-594 Excited to follow your progress to the marathon!

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    1. Thank you so much! I'm honored and humbled!! I'm inspired by you!

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  2. What's your race pace going to be for the marathon? Do you figure that out based on your last one? I've only done one half marathon so I have no idea of what pace I would run a full marathon except really slow.. which is not a pace. lol.. Your training schedule sounds interesting. I need to try doing something like that too. Do you plan to walk any during the marathon? I heard it's not uncommon to walk through aid stations to drink water?

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    1. Good question. I know I need to run a lot slower than I have been training at. My goal is to have negative splits the second half. I'm not planning on walking but I do walk through the aid stations. I mean really, is it going to kill my finish time? What I really want to do is enjoy this marathon...when I ran it 3 years ago, I was miserable. I said never again, and of course I didn't mean it. But it has taken me 3 years to get my nerve back. Just like giving birth...

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  3. Go get it girl! I think I'd be so sore from the CF I'd have a hard time running. Has Becky trained people who've had great success with a plan like this? I'd love to read their stories.

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    1. That's a good question! I'll have to ask her. She's impacted my running so much that I never even thought to ask. I have so much confidence in her. And when she went over my plan with me, it completely sealed the deal--nothing too crazy. The Monday sessions will be more intervals--today was rowing, kettlebell swings, and jump rope. Thursdays will still be CF stuff. If I come home and foam roll/stretch after that, running isn't too much of a problem. I have a rest day after my CF sessions, anywyas.

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  4. Lets do this!!! Love the plan! Excited to hear how it goes!

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  5. Sounds really exciting. Looking forward to reading about your journey. Don't forget to have fun!!

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    1. That's the goal here! I don't want to kill myself like I did for my last marathon.

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  6. You definitely CAN and you definitely WILL!

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  7. You are a BEAST! You've got this girl!!!

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  8. I LOVE the variety you have in your plan. Running, yoga, crossfit - I'm all about variety lately and feel that I'm stronger because of it. I should do more yoga!

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    1. I do too! I did the all running thing last marathon and that didn't work out so well for me! So I get to do running and everything else I love. Hope it works! :)

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  9. Wow, that is hard core!! I really need to make sure I stick to my cross training on my non-run days. It's easy to blow them off, but I need to make sure I treat them like a run...just as important! You are going to get so strong from this training! Can't wait to hear how it goes for you!

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