The Marathon Schedule Approaches!

Well, after a week off due to being out of town and enjoying it too much apparently, I have started the week off great. I wanted to post and mention a little about marathon training schedules.

What a maze of schedules to pick from! There are those schedules that a person only runs 3-4 days, and other where I've seen it all the way up to six. I've seen schedules that are as short as 8 weeks and as long as 18 weeks. (I discounted the longer ones then that) I've seen long runs of only 1 or 2 20 milers in a program, and those that go up to 23. So what did I choose? Well, I would love to break 4 hours in my very first marathon, but don't know if Ill be ready for it by October. I could have finished the half last year in certainly 2 hours, and likely 1:50, but not much faster then that. That time doesn't really bode well for a under 4 hour marathon. I have picked the Runner's World schedule to break 4:00 though. I have looked through the schedule, and can keep up the running at the pace desired until probably August. Then again, hopefully my fitness keeps up. Will I be totally devastated should I not break 4:00? Nope, not really. I just hope to finish the thing with hopefully all of my toe-nails and not crawling across the line. Since I've restarted running from the Mexico trip in April, I've already lost about 7 of the pounds I gained, and that's only with a 20-25 mile a week schedule with many easy runs.

I figure if I'm not ready for breaking 4:00, this schedule will definitely get me close to the goal. But you know I'm going to be on that 4:00 pace group!! I'll hang as far as I can, unless the pace is too quick right away.

On a much different note, my son is going to another school this coming year, and they offer track and field along with cross country. If he puts his mind to it, he's actually quite a good runner. (he's 15) He can belt out 6:00 minute miles without barely losing his breath. He wants to run with me this year, and I think Ill take him on my shorter 3 mile runs. I really would like to see what he can do. Personally, I can only run 3 miles between 21-23 minutes if I'm running fast and its flat. He wants to run on the track team, so I figure he can run with me and maybe I can give him some pointers.

That's it for this week! Until next week!